Bellwood

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A name shared by several small towns in the United States, including communities in Illinois and Pennsylvania
2. A place name borne by a few American towns, most notably a suburban village in Illinois near Chicago
3. A surname and the name of several small American municipalities, such as one located in Pennsylvania

Etymology: "Bellwood" is a compound of two plain English words: "bell," from Old English "belle," and "wood," from Old English "wudu." Read literally, the name suggests a wood associated with bells, though the compound itself does not show what the first settlers had in mind. Many American places were named by combining familiar English nouns in this way, so the name reads as a descriptive coinage rather than a borrowing from another language.