birthplace

American  

[burth-pleys] / ˈbɜrθˌpleɪs /

noun

• birthplaces
  plural

1. place of birth or origin.

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birthplace British  

/ ˈbɜːθˌpleɪs /

noun

1. the place where someone was born or where something originated

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• birthplaces
  plural

Etymology

Origin of birthplace

First recorded in 1600–10; birth + place

Explanation

The city or country where someone is born is their birthplace. If you move to Atlanta, Georgia, you can tell your friends you live in the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr. You'll often find the word birthplace describing the origin of a famous person, whether you're visiting the birthplace of Elvis Presley in Mississippi or reading about Tuskegee, Alabama, the birthplace of Rosa Parks. Birthplace also shows up on official documents like passport applications, which require you to prove your birthplace by submitting a birth certificate. The Middle English version of this word was birthstede, from stede, or "place."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

birthplace birthplaces

Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison faces a pivotal decision: Should he uproot his Hollywood studio — the birthplace of such film classics as “Sunset Boulevard,” “The Godfather” and “Beverly Hills Cop”?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

This is the birthplace of Millicent and Eliza May Drayden, whom Ms. Daanje has loosely modeled on Charlotte and Emily Brontë.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

The city is the birthplace of the modern hot air balloon, dating back to 1967 when the Bristol Belle was built and flown in the area.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

Austria will formally open a new police station on Wednesday in Adolf Hitler's former house, in the hope of deterring today's ascendant far-right extremists from making the pilgrimage to the Nazi dictator's birthplace.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

“Without regard to creed, color, birthplace, occupation, or social conditions. My aim is to do equal and exact justice among them all.”

From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple

That pattern matches a practice ethnographers call patrilocality, in which men stay put while women leave their birthplaces to find mates, a pattern also seen in ancient European farmers, among others.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 24, 2024

In the icy regions of their birthplaces, where planets receive little warming radiation from the star, the sub-Neptunes should indeed have sizes missing from the observed distribution.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024

Campaigners have bid to give the birthplaces of The Beatles registered status and get official recognition for "where it all started".

From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2023

Each year, hordes of them surge from the ocean into Canada’s rivers and streams, swimming back to their birthplaces to spawn.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 30, 2023

There were millions of other Americans who had left their birthplaces in search of a dream.

From "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie