A fountain is a structure that shoots water into the air in decorative patterns. You've probably seen fountains in parks, shopping centers, or town squares: water jets upward from pipes or spouts, creating streams, sprays, or cascades before falling back into a pool below. Some fountains are simple, with a single stream of water arcing gracefully into the air. Others are elaborate displays with dozens of jets choreographed to music and colored lights.

Before modern plumbing, fountains served a practical purpose. In ancient Rome, for example, public fountains provided fresh drinking water to neighborhoods throughout the city. People would fill jugs and buckets from these fountains to bring water home. Many European towns still have old fountains in their central squares, remnants of when they were the community's water source.

The word also appears in phrases like fountain of knowledge, describing someone who seems to have endless information on a subject. Your science teacher might be a fountain of knowledge about astronomy. A fountain pen gets its name because it has a reservoir of ink that flows smoothly onto the page, like water flowing from a fountain, rather than needing to be dipped in an inkwell like old-fashioned pens.