Boston

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Boston

/ˈbɔstən/ US
/ˈbɒstən/ New England
[ˈbɒːstɪn] New England
/ˈbɑstən/ cot caught merger
/ˈbɒstən/ UK

Rhymes with -ɒstən

Where it comes from

The US city is named after the English town (from which several prominent colonists had come), which itself is sometimes said to be named as a contraction of Botolph's town or Botolph's stone (the name Botolph itself coming from Old English Botwulf, from boda + wulf). However, this is uncertain.

proper noun

A town and borough in Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TF3244). Apprentice electrician Charlie Ellis Saw, from Boston in Lincolnshire, entered the water at Grasmere in Cumbria on Saturday 8 August, with the aim of swimming to the other side.
The capital and largest city of Massachusetts, the informal capital of New England, and the county seat of Suffolk County. There are faculty advisers on El’s theater crew who balk at using “they” for one person; classmates at El’s public school on the outskirts of Boston who insist El can’t be “multiple people”; and commenters on El’s social media feeds who dismiss nonbinary gender identities like androgyne (a combinati
metonymically The Massachusetts government.
An inactive township in Madison County, Arkansas.
A township in Washington County, Arkansas.
A city in Georgia; named for Thomas M. Boston, who found a medicinal spring near the town site.
A township and town therein, in Wayne County, Indiana; named for the city in Massachusetts.
A neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky.
A census-designated place in Nelson County, Kentucky.
A township in Ionia County, Michigan.
An unincorporated community in Missouri; named for the city in Massachusetts.
A town and hamlet therein, in Erie County, New York; named for the city in Massachusetts.
An unincorporated community in Belmont County, Ohio.
An unincorporated community in Highland County, Ohio; named for the city in Massachusetts.
An unincorporated community in Licking County, Ohio.
A township and unincorporated community therein, in Summit County, Ohio; named for the city in Massachusetts.
A census-designated place in Pennsylvania.
An unincorporated community, the county seat of Bowie County, Texas.
A census-designated place in Accomack County, Virginia.
An unincorporated community in Culpeper County and Rappahannock County, Virginia.
A town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
A town in South Australia.
A municipality of the Philippines.
A village in County Clare, Ireland.
A village in Kyrgyzstan.
A settlement in Belize.
A settlement in Suriname.
An eighteenth-century trick-taking card game for four players, with two packs of fifty-two cards each.
A habitational surname transferred from the place name.
rare A male given name transferred from the place name or surname.

Similar: Beantown

noun Bostons

In the card game spades, a bid of all 13 tricks.
A Boston lettuce.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: beantown, london, provincetown, toronto, dordrecht, cambridge, arkwright, pizza, troglodytic, lancaster, lepore, koln, shawmut, titletown, bostonia, chicago

proper noun

Similar: Beantown

Translations

Every language

name city in Massachusetts

Español	Boston
한국어	보스턴 Boseuteon
日本語	ボストン Bosuton
中文	波士頓 /波士顿 Bōshìdùn
हिन्दी	बोस्टन bosṭan
Português	Boston
Français	Boston
Deutsch	Boston
Italiano	Boston
Ελληνικά	Βοστώνη Vostóni, Βοστόνη Vostóni
Русский	Бо́стон Bóston
Tiếng Việt	Bốt xtơn, Ba Sĩ Đốn
العربية	بُوسْطُن busṭun
עברית	בוסטון bost'on

name village in Ireland

中文	波士頓 /波士顿 Bōshìdùn

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"Boston." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/boston. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

Boston. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/boston

Chicago

"Boston." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/boston.

BibTeX

@misc{boston_2026,
  title = {Boston},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/boston},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}