Learn English – Is “Underground” a proper noun or a common noun

british-englishnounsproper-nouns

The definition on the Oxford Dictionary is a little bit confusing for me. The dictionary doesn't call it a proper noun, but the first letter is capitalised in the example.

Since I know the Underground as a transportation system specific to a place (e.g. London), I would expect it to be a proper noun. Checking the dictionary didn't help me.

underground

NOUN

  1. (often the Underground) British An underground railway, especially the one in London.

‘travel chaos on the Underground’

Is it a proper noun or a common noun?

Best Answer

The definition does not say that the word "underground" is specific to London.

"The Underground" in London is a proper noun (that's why it's capitalized).
"The Metro" in Paris is a proper noun (again, that's why it's capitalized).

If you're talking about underground train systems in general, what word do you use in England? You can't use "subway" because it means something different. So you use "underground" or "metro" — they're both common nouns in this usage.

If you ask whether anybody actually uses "underground" for anything other than the system in London, it seems to be incredibly rare. But the dictionary definition clearly suggests that this is one possible usage, and it would be this usage that is a common noun rather than a proper noun.

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