Meaning & use
birthplace
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Meanings
nouncountable
The town, city, or country where a person was born.
Grammar: Usually singular with a possessive: her birthplace, not a birthplace of her.
Patterns
- someone's birthplace
- the birthplace of someone
Athens is known as the birthplace of the famous poet.
She returned to her birthplace for the first time in twenty years.
nouncountablefigurative
The place where an idea, style, movement, or activity first began.
Grammar: Used figuratively, almost always in the pattern the birthplace of something.
Patterns
- the birthplace of something
Detroit is often called the birthplace of Motown music.
The café became the birthplace of a whole new fashion scene.
Word forms
| plural | birthplaces |
|---|
Common combinations
- one's birthplace
- He keeps a map with his birthplace marked in red.
- the birthplace of
- Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance.
- return to one's birthplace
- She returned to her birthplace to care for her elderly mother.
- visit a birthplace
- Fans still visit the singer's birthplace every summer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- birth town
- More specific: only the town where someone was born, never the figurative origin of an idea.
- home town
- Similar but different: your home town is where you grew up or feel at home, not necessarily where you were born.
Word family
Commonly confused: birthplace or hometown?
birthplace vs hometown
Your hometown is where you grew up or feel you belong; your birthplace is simply where you were born, which may be a different place.
Practice
Detroit is often called the birthplace ___ Motown music.
Choose one answer.
The figurative pattern is 'the birthplace of something', meaning the place where it started. 'For' and 'to' are tempting because places often take them, but they break this fixed pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “birthplace”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.