Oxbridge

For the English village, see Oxbridge, Dorset

Oxbridge is a portmanteau name for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest in the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world.

Although both Oxford and Cambridge were founded more than seven centuries ago, the name "Oxbridge" is relatively young. In William Thackeray's bildungsroman, Pendennis, published in 1849, the main character attends Boniface College, Oxbridge. This is the first recorded instances of the word, at least by the Oxford English Dictionary but it did not enter common usage until the middle of the 20th century. Virginia Woolf used the term critically in her essay A Room of One's Own.

Other portmanteau names are occasionally derived from the term "Oxbridge", either adding or replacing universities in the portmanteau: for example, Doxbridge refers to the three oldest universities in England – Oxford, Cambridge, and the University of Durham – and is most notably in use as the name of an annual sports tournament involving the three institutions. None of these newer terms, however, has achieved widespread use.

It is the practice of many members of Oxford and Cambridge to refer to each other's university as "The Other Place".

Social critics in the United Kingdom also sometimes use "Oxbridge" or "Oxbridge Club" as shorthand for the "old boy network" that is said to dominate government, education, and other institutions.

Oxbridge

See also