Park

See also: park

English

Etymology 1

From park.

Proper noun

Park

1. An English surname.
2. A river in central Connecticut
3. A village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
4. A large area in Lewis, Western Isles council area, Scotland.

Synonyms

• (Conn. river): Hog

Etymology 2

From Korean 박 (Bak), under influence from Park.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɑɹk/
• Rhymes: -ɑɹk
• Homophone: park

Proper noun

Park (plural Parks)

1. A surname from Korean. Alternative form of Bak.
   • 2020 February 16, Justin McCurry, Nemo Kim, “Parasite: how Oscar triumph has exposed South Korea’s social divide”, in The Observer‎^[1]:

     Centring on the tension between the Kims, a basement-dwelling family of “dirt spoons” in Seoul, and the Parks, a family at the opposite end of the social spectrum, Parasite’s plot is predicated on the widening gap between the haves and the have nots in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Park is the 289th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 106,696 individuals. Park is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (72.98%) and White (23.34%) individuals.

Anagrams

• KPRA, Karp, Prak

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Dutch

Etymology

First attested as de Parck in 1713. Derived from perk (“enclosed area”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: Park

Proper noun

Park n

1. A hamlet in Land van Cuijk, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

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German

Etymology

A doublet of inherited Pferch (“pen [for animals]”). The form Park was first borrowed in the 15th/16th centuries from Middle Dutch park, in which the word had developed the sense “recreation park, enclosed hunting grounds” under the influence of Old French parc. German Park remained sporadic, however, until it was reinforced (or borrowed anew) from modern French parc and English park from the late 17th century on. For the further origin of all mentioned cognates compare Pferch and park.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paʁk/, [pʰaʁk], [pʰaɐ̯k] (standard)
• IPA^(key): /paːk/ (common; chiefly northern and central Germany)

• audio:

  (file)

Noun

Park m (strong, genitive Parks or Parkes, plural Parks or (less common) Parke or (rare outside Switzerland) Pärke)

1. park (piece of ground in or near a city or town, enclosed and kept for ornament and recreation)
   • 1878, Arnold von Lasaulx, Aus Irland, Reiseskizzen und Studien, page 133:

     Auch die Vegetation des Parkes war hier, wie allerwärts in Irland, eine bewundernswerthe.

     The vegetation of the park, too, was here, as everywhere in Ireland, admirable.

   • 1918, Elisabeth von Heyking, Aus dem Lande der Ostseeritter, in Zwei Erzählungen, Phillipp Reclam jun., page 79:

     Aber oftmals lief die kleine Dorothee […] noch viel weiter, bis dorthin, wo der regelmäßige Garten sich in einen weiten natürlichen Park verlor und allmählich in Wiesen und Wald überging.

     But often the little Dorothee […] walked still much farther until there, where the regular garden faded away into a wide natural park and gradually fused into meadows and woods.

   • 2008, Marc Vesper, Ein Single kommt immer allein..., page 226:

     Und der Herbst bliess draussen die Blätter von den Bäumen, durch Gärten, über Strassen, durch Pärke und über Dächer.

     And outside, fall blew the leaves from the trees, through gardens, across streets, through parks and over rooftops.

2. park, grounds (tract of ground kept in its natural state, around a residence, for the enjoyment of its owner)

Usage notes

The predominant plural is Parks. The form Parke is somewhat less common. The form Pärke does occur, but is rare outside Switzerland.

Declension

Declension of Park [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Park	die	Parks, Parke2, Pärke3
genitive	eines	des	Parks, Parkes	der	Parks, Parke2, Pärke3
dative	einem	dem	Park, Parke1	den	Parks, Parken2, Pärken3
accusative	einen	den	Park	die	Parks, Parke2, Pärke3

¹Now rare, see notes.
²Less common.
³Rare outside Switzerland.

Derived terms

• Fuhrpark
• Tierpark
• Vergnügungspark

Descendants

• → Lower Sorbian: park

Further reading

• “Park” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Park” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Park” in Duden online
• Park on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de