neighborhood
UK[ˈneɪbəhʊd]US[ˈneɪbərˌhʊd]
n
a district or community within a town or city.
n
the area surrounding a particular place, person, or object.
n
the set of points near a given point.
Morpheme Breakdown
neighbor
hood
neighbor
nigh, near
hood
Etymology
the word 'neighborhood' is a compound formed from two old english elements. the first part, 'neighbor', itself originates from 'neahgebur', literally meaning 'near-dweller'. the second part, the suffix '-hood', derives from the old english '-hād', which indicated a state or condition, akin to modern '-ness' or '-ship'. thus, the term's literal construction means 'the state or condition of being near-dwellers'. over time, this abstract sense of a collective state evolved to concretely denote the physical district where such near-dwellers live, as well as the social community they form. the mathematical sense is a modern metaphorical extension of this core idea of proximate surroundings.
Analysis
Structure: neighbor + hood
neighbor: from old english 'neahgebur' ('neah' meaning 'nigh, near' + 'gebur' meaning 'dweller, farmer'), functioning as the core noun.
hood: from old english '-hād', a noun-forming suffix denoting state, condition, quality, or character.
Examples
she is well-known and respected throughout the neighborhood.
there's a good italian restaurant in the neighborhood of the station.
the algorithm checks the immediate neighborhood of each pixel.