Houston

English

Alternative forms

• (surname): Hoston, Houstoun, Hughesdon

Etymology

Originally from a place near Glasgow, from the Middle English equivalent of "Hugh's town". Analyzable as Hugh +‎ -s- +‎ -ton

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈh(j)uːst(ə)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhjustən/, [ˈhj̊uːstɨn], [j̊uːstɨn]

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (county in Georgia, street in Manhattan, sometimes the surname): IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊstən/
• Rhymes: -uːstən
• Hyphenation: Hous‧ton

Proper noun

Houston (countable and uncountable, plural Houstons)

1. A habitational surname.
2. A male given name transferred from the surname, of mainly American usage.
3. A placename:
   1. A large city, the county seat of Harris County, Texas, United States, named after Sam Houston.

      Synonym: (official nickname) Space City

      • 2020, Bryan Washington, Memorial, Atlantic Books (2021), page 254:

        Spring in Houston is scalding sidewalks and sun-drunk lovebugs. It’s dead grass and midday thunderstorms. It isn’t the beginning or the end of anything, just a prolonged in-between through dead-end traffic on I-45.

      • 2024 May 17, Dalia Faheid, Paradise Afshar, Caitlin Kaiser, Joe Sutton, Mary Gilbert and Taylor Ward, “At least 7 dead after hurricane-force winds pound Houston as power outages persist amid rising temperatures”, in CNN‎^[1]:

        At least seven people were killed in the Houston area on Thursday as a destructive complex of storms with winds up to 100 mph tore through the area, triggering power outages that could stretch on for weeks amid soaring temperatures.

      • 2025 March 12, Nicole Acevedo, “U.S. citizen child recovering from brain cancer removed to Mexico with undocumented parents”, in NBC News‎^[2]:

        The family’s ordeal began last month, when they were rushing from Rio Grande City, where they lived, to Houston, where their daughter’s specialist doctors are based, for an emergency medical checkup.

   2. A village in Renfrewshire council area, Scotland.
   3. A town in the Bulkley Valley, British Columbia, Canada.
   4. Other places in the United States:
      1. An unincorporated community in Winston County, Alabama.
      2. A city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska.
      3. A small town in Perry County, Arkansas.
      4. A small town in Kent County, Delaware.
      5. An unincorporated community in Suwannee County, Florida.
      6. An unincorporated community in Heard County, Georgia.
      7. A township in Adams County, Illinois.
      8. An unincorporated community in Salt Creek Township, Jackson County, Indiana.
      9. A small city and township in Houston County, Minnesota.
      10. A small city in and one of the two county seats of Chickasaw County, Mississippi.
      11. A small city, the county seat of Texas County, Missouri.
      12. An unincorporated community in York County, Nebraska.
      13. An unincorporated community in Union County, North Carolina.
      14. An unincorporated community in Loramie Township, Shelby County, Ohio.
      15. A borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
      16. An unincorporated community in Wayne County, Tennessee.
   5. Ellipsis of Houston County.
4. (metonymic) The Johnson Space Center, the NASA Mission Control complex located in Houston, Texas.

   Houston, we've had a problem here.

Derived terms

• Houston County
• Houstonian
• Houston, we have a problem

Translations

Texan city

• Bulgarian: Хю́стън m (Hjústǎn)
• Burmese: ဟူစတန် (huca.tan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 休斯敦 (zh) (Xiūsīdūn), 休士頓 / 休士顿 (zh) (Xiūshìdùn) (Taiwan)

• French: Houston (fr) m
• Galician: Houston m
• Georgian: ჰიუსტონი (hiusṭoni)
• German: Houston (de)
• Greek: Χιούστον (el) (Chioúston)
• Hungarian: Houston (hu)
• Japanese: ヒューストン (Hyūsuton)
• Korean: 휴스턴 (Hyuseuteon)
• Latin: Hustonia f
• Marathi: ह्यूस्टन (hyūsṭan)
• Portuguese: Houston f
• Russian: Хью́стон (ru) (Xʹjúston)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Хјустон

  Latin: Houston (sh) (Croatian), Hjuston (Serbian)

• Spanish: Houston (es)
• Turkish: Houston

See also

• Hoston
• Huston

Anagrams

• Southon, unshoot

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English Houston.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjuːstən/, [ˈjuːstn̩]
• IPA^(key): /ˈçuːstən/ (less common)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Houston n (proper noun, genitive Houstons or (optionally with an article) Houston)

1. Houston (a city in Texas, United States)

Derived terms

• Houston, wir haben ein Problem

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxjuston/ [ˈxjus.t̪õn]
• Rhymes: -uston
• Syllabification: Hous‧ton

Proper noun

Houston f

1. Houston (a large city, the county seat of Harris County, Texas, United States)