Brentford

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A town in west London, England, forming part of the London Borough of Hounslow ; a professional football club based in that town and nicknamed The Bees
2. A district of west London in the London Borough of Hounslow ; an English football club from the same area, known to supporters as The Bees
3. A west London town within the borough of Hounslow ; the football club that plays from there and carries the nickname The Bees

Etymology: The town takes its name from the River Brent, a small tributary of the Thames, and the word "ford" that follows it simply means a shallow crossing where people or animals could wade a river. So the name is a plain description: a crossing point on the Brent. The river name itself is the older and more obscure part of the story, and it is the element that gives the place its identity. Because the Brent was once a waterway that had to be crossed on foot or by animal, the settlement grew up around that crossing, and the name stuck to the place as it developed. The same pattern appears in many English place names, where "ford" marks a historic river crossing and the first element names the stream or a local feature.