Etymologically
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cottage

Etymology and origin of the English word cottage

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1272
Ultimate origin
Anglo-Norman (*cotage)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkɒt.ɪdʒ/, US /ˈkɑː.t̬ɪdʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed through Anglo-Norman *cotage and directly from Old French cotage,[2][3] from cote, a hut or cottage (see cot and cote), and the suffix -age.[2][4][3] Cote is probably from Old Norse kot, hut, cognate with Old English cot.[2][4] The OED takes the whole to have meant the entire property attached to a cote.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small, humble dwelling, such as a farm labourer's: before 1272 in the OED,[5] about 1390 in Barnhart, in Chaucer.[2] It first meant a house held by a peasant under the feudal system.[2]

Semantic evolution

A small country or suburban house without any suggestion of poverty is from 1765,[4][5] and in the United States a summer residence, often large and luxurious, from 1882.[5] In Australia a cottage is a one-storey house (1898).[5] The slang sense, a public lavatory, is from 1909, later only in homosexual slang.[5] Cottager is from 1555,[2] cottage cheese from 1831,[4] and cottage industry from 1854.[4] Modern French cottage is a 19th-century reborrowing from English.[4]

Timeline

  • before 1272 – a humble dwelling.[5]
  • 1555 – cottager.[2]
  • 1765 – a small country house.[4][5]
  • 1831 – cottage cheese.[4]
  • 1854 – cottage industry.[4]
  • 1882 – a summer residence (US).[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small, simple house, especially in the country.
  2. (US, Canada) A small holiday house in the country or at a resort.
  3. (slang) A public lavatory.

Word family

  • cottagey
  • cottaged
  • cottager
  • cottage cheese
  • cottage industry
  • cottage fries
  • cottage pie

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Cottage.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/cottage. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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