Downtown is a term primarily used in North America to refer to a city's core (or center) or central business district, usually in a geographical, commercial, and community sense. In most other English speaking countries the terms 'town centre' and 'city centre' are used.

The term is thought to have been coined in New York City, where it was in use by the 1830s to refer to the original town at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan. As the town of New York grew into a city, the only direction it could grow on the island was toward the north, proceeding upriver from the original settlement (the "up" and "down" terminology in turn came from the customary map design in which up was north and down was south). Thus, anything north of the original town became known as "uptown" (Upper Manhattan), while the original town (which was also New York's only major center of business at the time) became known as "downtown" (Lower Manhattan).

Ну что, казним вещую птичку наконец-то?