Plymouth is a city by the sea in Devon, in the southwest of England. It stands where the River Plym meets the sea — that is why it is called Plymouth: Plym plus mouth. For hundreds of years it has been a major port and a base for the British navy. In the UK, people especially tie it to Francis Drake, the 16th-century sailor and navy commander; a famous story, which may be tidier than the real day, says he was playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe when news came that the Spanish Armada was coming, and he finished his game first. In the United States, Plymouth is remembered as the place the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from in 1620, on the Mayflower, when they went to America. The town they later named Plymouth in Massachusetts was named after this English city, so American history talk can mean either place. It is a proper name, always with a capital P. You meet it in history, travel, and navy news — not as a word for anything else.