purlieu

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

purlieu

/ˈpɜːljuː/ UK
/ˈpɝl(j)u/ US

Where it comes from

From Middle English purlewe (“piece of land on the edge of a forest”), modification under the influence of Old French lieu (“place”) of porale, purale (“royal perambulation”), from Old French porale, from poraler (“to traverse”), from por- (“forth”) (from Latin prō-) + aler, aller (“to go”).

noun purlieus · purlieux

historical The ground on the edges of a forest, especially when partly subject to the same forest laws concerning game hunting etc.
The outskirts of any place; an adjacent district; the environs or neighborhood; milieu. Thus, wit has its walks and purlieus, out of which it may not stray the breadth of an hair, upon peril of being lost.

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{purlieu_2026,
  title = {purlieu},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/purlieu},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}