From Latin 'villa' (farm estate) through French, a word that carries the footprint of Roman agricultural civilization into every English hamlet.
A small settlement, generally larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town, typically in a rural area.
The word 'village' entered English from Old French 'village,' which derived from Latin 'villāticum' (farmstead, estate), itself from 'villa' (country house, farm estate). The Latin 'villa' is of uncertain deeper origin but may come from PIE '*weyk-' (clan, social unit), the same root that produced English 'wick' and the '-wich'/'-wick' suffix in English place names. The word thus traces back to the Roman estate system that structured