ज्या परिसरासभोवती कसदार शेतीला योग्य जमीन आहे तसेच जेथे शेती होते आणि त्यासाठी लागणारे मनुष्यबळ उपलब्ध आहे अशा ठिकाणास गाव असे म्हटले जाते. आधुनिक काळात जेथे शेती आणि व्यापार चालतो त्यास गाव असे म्हणता येईल. गाव हे साधारणपणे नदीकाठी अथवा पाण्याचे स्रोत असतील अशा ठिकाणी वसलेले आढळते.

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town, with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighborhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a dispersed settlement.