Skip to main content
Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill

23 3.9
A town in central North Carolina known for a big university and college life
  • proper noun
  • /ˈtʃæpəl hɪl/
: Chapel Hill
  • 22. Roberts, S.K. Infectious Fear: Politics, Disease, and the Health Effects of Segregation. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
  • Chapel Hill, Carolina
  • North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • Chapel Hill, N.C.

Examples

  • Arne L. Kalleberg is a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    Academic text (2015)
  • (13.) George C. Rable, The Confederate Republic: A Revolution against Politics (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994), 138-43, esp. 140.

    Academic text (2018)
  • Then, on my last afternoon, he said, "I want you to see the other side of Chapel Hill."

    Academic text (2004)
  • Notes on the State of Virginia. Ed. William Peden. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1955.

    Academic text (1997)
  • The men's basketball teams of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Syracuse University.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Lewis, P. H. 1990. The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1990.

    Academic text (1992)
  • By Kirsten Swinth. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

    Academic text (2004)
  • (Firm Connections, the newsletter of RTS, is available by writing P.O. Box 9005, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27514).

    Academic text (1994)
  • Waldstreicher, David. In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Colleen Rae is a freelance writer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Surface Forms

Morphology

Chapel + hill

The name is compositionally built from the nouns 'chapel' and 'hill', so a learner who knows those words will readily infer it refers to a place — likely a hill with a chapel or a locality named for that feature. Toponymic compounds of this type are cross-linguistically common and follow ordinary compositional naming patterns, making the MWE's meaning transparent to B1 learners who know the constituents.

Etymology

Chapel Hill gets its name from a small hill with a chapel on top. Early people named the spot for its chapel and hill, so today the name refers to the 'town' that grew there.