# neighbour

Pronunciation: UK say "NAY-buh" /ˈneɪbə/; US say "NAY-bur" /ˈneɪbɚ/

## Noun

1. A person who lives next door or nearby, or who is placed beside or near someone, and also anything near another thing of its kind.
   - Simple: A person who lives or happens to be near you, or something near another thing of the same kind.
   - _Our neighbours fed the cat while we were on holiday._
   - _On the train, my neighbour fell asleep on my shoulder._
3. In the Bible and religious teaching, any fellow human being.
   - Simple: In the Bible, any other person, not just one who lives near you.
   - _The sermon reminded us that a stranger in need is our neighbour too._
   - _Believers are called to forgive their neighbours as they hope to be forgiven._

## Verb

2. To lie next to or border on a place or thing.
   - Simple: To be right beside a place or thing, or to share a border with it.
   - _Our farm neighbours a large nature reserve._
   - _Residents of the streets that neighbour the airport complain about the noise._
4. To come close to, or be almost the same as, something; followed by on.
   - Simple: To be very close to being something (used with 'on').

## Other meanings

- (noun) Someone close to another in sympathy or trusted with their confidences.
- (verb) To keep close company with someone, or to be close to them.

## Origin

From Middle English neighebor, neighbour, from Old English nēahġebūr, from Proto-Germanic *nēhwagabūrô, literally "near-dweller": nigh ("near") + bower ("farmer"). German Nachbar, Dutch nabuur and Danish nabo are related; it pushed out Middle English prome, borrowed from Old French proeme ("neighbour").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/neighbour (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).