What Does Neighbour Mean?
A neighbour is a person who lives near you, often in the house or flat next to yours.
It is a noun. It can also mean a person or thing next to another: Canada's neighbour is the United States.
Our neighbour has a dog called Biscuit.
We say hello to our neighbours every morning.
🔊 Pronunciation
NAY-bur
The gh is silent. The eigh sounds like the ay in day.
🗣️ Natural Examples
My neighbour waters our plants when we go away.
The neighbours have a big tree in their garden.
We live in a friendly neighbourhood.
Spain's neighbour is Portugal.
She waved to her neighbour across the fence.
🛠️ How to Use It
Neighbour is a very common word.
- British English spells it neighbour. American English spells it neighbor.
- It is countable: one neighbour, two neighbours.
- Neighbouring is an adjective: a neighbouring town.
- Neighbourhood is the area where you live: a quiet neighbourhood.
🤝 Common Word Partners
- a next-door neighbour
- a friendly neighbour
- the neighbours
- good neighbours
- a neighbouring country
- my neighbourhood
👯 Similar and Related Words
- neighbourhood: the area around where you live.
- neighbouring: next to or near, as in neighbouring towns.
- nearby: close to where you are.
- resident: a person who lives in a place.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Spelling. The eigh is the tricky part.
❌ nieghbour, neibour, naybor
✅ neighbour (UK) or neighbor (US)
Use neighbouring as an adjective.
❌ We visited the neighbour town.
✅ We visited the neighbouring town.
Plural verb.
❌ My neighbours is very kind.
✅ My neighbours are very kind.
💬 In a Conversation
Mia: Our neighbour has a new cat.
Sam: What is its name?
Mia: Neigh.
Sam: Like a horse?
Mia: Like a neighbour. It is a very friendly cat.
🕵️ Where Does It Come From?
In Old English, the word was neahgebur. It joins two parts: neah, "near" (the same word as nigh), and gebur, "dweller". Elsewhere, gebur is also glossed as "farmer" or "peasant". So a neighbour was literally a "near-dweller" or "near-farmer".
The word has cousins across Germanic languages, such as German Nachbar. In Middle English, it was written neighebor.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Look in the middle of the word: n-eigh-bour.
Hidden inside is neigh, the sound a horse makes. A horse in the middle of neighbour will help you spell it.