'burgess' originates from Old French, specifically the word 'burgeis', where 'burg-'/'bourg' meant 'town, fortified place'.

'burgess' changed from Old French 'burgeis' through Anglo-Norman and Middle English forms such as 'burges' and 'burgess', eventually becoming the modern English 'burgess'.

Initially, it meant 'an inhabitant or native of a borough (town)', and over time it also came to mean specifically 'an elected representative of a borough'; in modern use the representative sense is largely historical while the civic-subscriber sense survives in certain local or legal contexts.