downtown

See also: down-town

English

Alternative forms

• dahntahn (Pittsburgh)

Etymology

From down +‎ town.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊ̯nˌtaʊ̯n/, [ˈdaʊ̯nˌtʰaʊ̯n]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Southern US, Midland US, Mid-Atlantic US, New York City, Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈdæʊ̯nˌtæʊ̯n/, [ˈdæʊ̯nˌtʰæʊ̯n]
• (Pittsburgh, General South African, /aʊ̯/-monophthongization) IPA^(key): /ˈdaːnˌtaːn/, [ˈdaːnˌtʰaːn]

  • Audio (Western Pennsylvania):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊn
• Hyphenation: down‧town

Adjective

downtown (not generally comparable, comparative further downtown or farther downtown or more downtown, superlative furthest downtown or farthest downtown or most downtown)

1. Of, relating to, or situated in the central business district.

   John walked every day to his downtown job.

   • 2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 5 June 2018:

     “Human flesh got stuck to me,” he recalls now, as we sit in the ambulance control centre in downtown Karachi.

   • 2025 June 26, Judith Fein, “A sunny spot where desert, mountains and cultures mix”, in CNN‎^[2], archived from the original on 27 June 2025:

     The famed Farmers & Crafts Market on Main Street in downtown Las Cruces is a lively gathering of regional farmers, bakers, makers, jewelers, artists, food trucks and street musicians.

Adverb

downtown (not generally comparable, comparative further downtown or farther downtown or more downtown, superlative furthest downtown or farthest downtown or most downtown)

1. In or towards the central business district.

   You need to go downtown four blocks.

   A storekeeper downtown was shot dead last evening.

   • 1964, Tony Hatch, “Downtown”, performed by Petula Clark:

     When you're alone and life is making you lonely / You can always go downtown

2. (basketball) Outside the three-point line, or generally far from the basket.

   That shot came from way downtown!

Derived terms

• go downtown

Translations

in, or towards the central business district

• Finnish: keskustassa oleva, keskusta-
• French: centre-ville (fr) m
• German: in der Innenstadt f (location); in die Innenstadt f (direction)
• Portuguese: centro (pt) m
• Scots: dountoun
• Vietnamese: dưới phố

(basketball): outside the three-point line, or generally far from the basket

Noun

downtown (plural downtowns)

1. (chiefly US, Canada) The main business part of a city or town, usually located at or near its center.

   Synonyms: city center, town centre, central business district, city (Australia)

   Coordinate terms: uptown, midtown, old town; northside, southside, eastside, westside

2. (US, slang) The human genitalia.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vulva, Thesaurus:vagina

3. (slang) Heroin.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:heroin

Derived terms

• downtowner

Translations

either the lower, or the business center of a city or town

• Afrikaans: middestad
• Arabic: وَسَطُ البَلَد m (wasaṭu l-balad)

  Egyptian Arabic: وسط البلد m (wisṭ il-balad)

• Asturian: centru m, centru urbanu m
• Breton: kreiz-kêr (br) m
• Bulgarian: це́нтър на гра́да m (céntăr na gráda)
• Catalan: centre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 市中心 (zh) (shìzhōngxīn), 中央商業區 / 中央商业区 (zhōngyāng shāngyèqū)

• Dutch: binnenstad (nl) m, stadscentrum (nl) n, centrum (nl) n
• Esperanto: urbocentro, urbomezo
• Faroese: miðbýur
• Finnish: keskusta (fi), ydinkeskusta (fi)
• French: centre-ville (fr) m, quartier d'affaires m
• Galician: centro (gl) m
• Georgian: ქალაქის ცენტრალური ნაწილი (kalakis cenṭraluri nac̣ili), ქალაქის საქმიანი ნაწილი (kalakis sakmiani nac̣ili), ქალაქის საქმიანი რაიონი (kalakis sakmiani raioni), ცენტრალური ნაწილი (cenṭraluri nac̣ili), საქმიანი ნაწილი (sakmiani nac̣ili), საქმიანი რაიონი (sakmiani raioni), ქალაქის ცენტრი (kalakis cenṭri)
• German: Stadtmitte (de) f, Innenstadt (de) f, Stadtzentrum (de) n, Zentrum (de) n, City (de) f
• Greek: αγορά (el) f (agorá), κέντρο (el) n (kéntro)
• Hungarian: belváros (hu)
• Icelandic: miðborg f, miðbær m
• Indonesian: pusat kota
• Italian: centro (it) m
• Japanese: ダウンタウン (dauntaun), 町 (ja) (まち, machi), 中心部 (ちゅうしんぶ, chūshinbu), 中心業務地区 (ちゅうしんぎょうむちく, chūshin gyōmu chiku)
• Khmer: ទីប្រជុំជន (tibrachoumchon)
• Korean: 시내 (ko) (sinae), 도심 (ko) (dosim)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ناوشار (nawşar)

• Lao: ຕົວເມືອງ (tūa mư̄ang)
• Latin: media urbs f
• Macedonian: це́нтарот на гра́дот n (céntarot na grádot)
• Malay: pusat bandar
• Norwegian: bykjerne
• Polish: śródmieście (pl) n, centrum miasta n
• Portuguese: centro (pt), baixa (pt) f
• Romanian: centru (ro) n (comercial) de oraș
• Russian: центр (ru) m (centr), центр го́рода (ru) m (centr góroda), делова́я часть го́рода f (delovája častʹ góroda), си́ти m (síti)
• Spanish: centro (de (la) ciudad) m, centro​/​núcleo urbano​/​ciudadano​/​citadino m, downtown (es) m, dauntaun m, dauntáun m
• Swedish: innerstad (sv), centrum (sv), city (sv)
• Tagalog: bayanan, gitnambayan, gitnambalen, kabayanan, kabalinan
• Turkish: şehir merkezi (tr), kent merkezi
• Ukrainian: середмі́стя n (seredmístja)
• Vietnamese: khu trung tâm thành phố, khu vực trung tâm thành phố, nội thành (vi)
• Yiddish: אונטערשטאָט f (untershtot)

References

• “downtown n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present.
• Eric Partridge (2005), “downtown”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 1 (A–I), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 647.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English downtown.

Noun

downtown m (invariable)

1. downtown (financial district)

   Synonym: city

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English downtown.

Noun

downtown m (plural downtowns)

1. (US) downtown

   Alternative forms: dauntaun, dauntáun

Usage notes

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• Moreno Fernández, Francisco (2018), “downtown”, in Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense [Dictionary of Anglicisms of US Spanish]‎^[3] (overall work in Spanish), New York: North American Academy of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española], →DOI, →ISBN‎^[4]