A town is a type of settlement ranging from a few to several thousand (occasionally hundreds of thousands) inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition. Usually, a "town" is thought of as larger than a village but smaller than a "city", though there are exceptions to this rule. The word "town" is of native Germanic origin, from Old English tūn, an enclosed piece of land.
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A town is a type of settlement ranging from a few to several thousand (occasionally hundreds of thousands) inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition. Usually, a "town" is thought of as larger than a village but smaller than a "city", though there are exceptions to this rule. The word "town" is of native Germanic origin, from Old English tūn, an enclosed piece of land.
Origin of the word and use around the world
The word Town is related to the German word Zaun ≈ English the Dutch word tuin ≈ English, and the In Norse/Norwegian "tun" ≈ English. The German word Zaun comes closest to the original meaning of the word, being some sort of wooden fence or wall. In English and Dutch the meaning of the word has converged with the space these fences used to enclose. In English that was a small city which (way into the 18th century) couldn't afford or wasn't allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications, and build a palisade/stockade instead (lots of early English settlements in America are a good example of that). In the Netherlands this space was a garden, more specifically the richer ones which had a high fence or a wall around them (like the garden of palace 't Loo in Apeldoorn which was the example for the privy garden of William and Mary at Hamptoncourt). In Norse/Norwegian tun means the (grassy) place between the farms houses.
In Old English and Early and Middle Scots, the word ton, toun, etc. could refer to kinds of settlement as diverse as agricultural estates and holdings, partly picking up the Norse sense (as in the Scots word fermtoun) at one end of the scale to fortified municipality at the other. If there was ever properly any distinction between toun (fortified municipality) and burgh (unfortified municipality) it did not last in practice as burghs and touns developed. For example "Edina Burgh" or "Edinburgh" (modernly called a city) was built around a fort and eventually came to have a defensive wall.
In some cases, "town" is an alternate name for "city" or "village" (especially a larger village). Sometimes, the word "town" is short for "township." In general, towns can be differentiated from townships, villages, or hamlets on the basis of their economic character, in that most of a town's population will tend to derive their living from manufacturing industry, commerce, and public service rather than primary industry such as agriculture or related activities.
