Word.ws English Dictionary

Lancaster

/ˈlænkæstə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈlænkæstə/

Lancaster proper noun: a habitational surname from Old English.

lancaster: a habitational surname from Old English
Image: Sodacan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Proper noun

Lancaster

  1. A habitational surname from Old English.
    • Sylvia Lancaster is the founder of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, a campaigning charitable organisation formed in the wake of her daughter Sophie's tragic murder in 2007.2015, Neil Chakraborti, Jon Garland, Responding to Hate Crime: The Case for Connecting Policy and Research
  2. The House of Lancaster, a dynasty of English kings and one of the opposing factions involved in the 15th century Wars of the Roses. The name comes from the fact that its members were descended from John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster; their symbol was a red rose.
  3. A royal duchy, historically in Lancashire but now comprising an expansive real estate portfolio, held by the monarch of the United Kingdom.
  4. The City of Lancaster, a city and local government district with borough status (and city status) in Lancashire in North West England. Its main settlement is Lancaster, from which it obtained its city status. (OS grid ref SD4761).
  5. A locality in the Shire of Campaspe and City of Greater Shepparton, Victoria, Australia.
  6. A small former city in New Brunswick, Canada, amalgamated into Saint John in 1967.
  7. A ghost town in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
  8. A community in the township of South Glengarry, in eastern Ontario, Canada.
  9. A small community in the city of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
  10. A populated place in Yavapai County, Arizona.
  11. A ghost town in Crawford County, Arkansas.
  12. A charter city in Los Angeles County, California.
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  1. An unincorporated community in Wabash County, Illinois.
  2. A township and unincorporated community therein, in Huntington County, Indiana.
  3. A township and unincorporated community therein, in Jefferson County, Indiana.
  4. Another name for Patricksburg, an unincorporated community in Marion Township, Owen County, Indiana.
  5. A tiny city in Atchison County, Kansas.
  6. A small city, the county seat of Garrard County, Kentucky.
  7. A town in Worcester County, Massachusetts.
  8. A tiny city in Kittson County, Minnesota.
  9. A small city, the county seat of Schuyler County, Missouri.
  10. A town, the county seat of Coos County, New Hampshire.
  11. A census-designated place in Coos County, New Hampshire, within the town of the same name.
  12. A town and village in Erie County, New York; a suburb of Buffalo.
  13. A city, the county seat of Fairfield County, Ohio.
  14. An unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon.
  15. A city, the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
  16. A city, the county seat of Lancaster County, South Carolina.
  17. An unincorporated community in Smith County, Tennessee.
  18. A city in Dallas County, Texas.
  19. An unincorporated community, the county seat of Lancaster County, Virginia.
  20. A city, the county seat of Grant County, Wisconsin.
  21. A number of other townships in the United States, listed under Lancaster Township.
  22. (aircraft) A type of four-engined British bomber aircraft built by Avro during World War 2.

Forms of Lancaster

alternative abbreviationLanc.

Origin of Lancaster

From Middle English Lancaster, Loncastre, the name of the Roman fort on the River Lune, from Lune + the Old English suffix ceaster (“town”), found in many placenames.

Words formed from Lancaster

Questions about Lancaster

What does Lancaster mean?
Lancaster means a habitational surname from Old English.
What part of speech is Lancaster?
Lancaster is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Lancaster?
Lancaster is pronounced /ˈlænkæstə/ (Australia).

Words near Lancaster in the dictionary

  1. Lancashire over the water
  2. Lancashire peeler
  3. Lancashire peelers
  4. Lancashire wrestling
  5. Lancashires
  6. Lancaster
  7. Lancaster County
  8. Lancaster Sound
  9. Lancasterian
  10. Lancasterism
  11. Lancastrian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Lancaster (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Typheuss-Lancaster.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Lancaster.wav.

Cite this entry: “Lancaster.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lancaster. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.