Moorfields

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A former marshy area of north London ; a famous eye hospital that was founded in the City and named after this location
2. An area of central London near the City ; the renowned ophthalmic hospital that takes its name from the district where it stands
3. A London locality historically associated with fields and wetlands ; a well-known eye infirmary bearing the name of this place

Etymology: Moorfields is a place name rather than a common word, and its meaning is transparent: it combines the surname Moore with "fields". The name belongs to Moorfields in Bristol, an area of the city, so the first element is a family name, not a description of wet ground. This is a familiar pattern in English place names, where a landowner's surname is attached to the open land he held or farmed. The "fields" element is the older and more ordinary part, referring to open cultivated or pastoral land. Together the two parts give a compact record of ownership: the land was known by the name of the family associated with it, and that name stuck long after the fields themselves were built over.