Midtown

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The central area of a city, typically between the downtown and uptown districts
2. A part of a city often recognized as being situated centrally, generally located between the hustle of downtown and the quieter uptown areas
3. An urban zone that typically serves as a pivotal point in a city, bridging the more commercial downtown and the residential uptown neighborhoods

Etymology: Midtown is a compound of two plain English words. "Mid" comes from Old English "midd," meaning "middle," and "town" comes from Old English "tūn," which originally meant an enclosure or farmstead before it came to mean a settlement. Joined together, the pair describes the middle part of a town or city. The word was formed in English from these native parts rather than borrowed, so there is no foreign detour to trace. Its meaning is literal: the middle of a town, understood as the zone between its centre and its outskirts, with "mid-" marking a position in a larger whole.

Synonyms: downtown, city center, central district