homeowner

Etymology

It is a compound from English home + owner, also written with a hyphen,^[2][3][4] and first recorded in American English.^[2][4] The second part is an agent noun from the verb own, recorded from the mid-14th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who owns the house they live in: 1850, in the Milwaukee Sentinel & Gazette of Wisconsin.^[4] Etymonline dates the word to 1887, as "owner of a house and ground",^[2] and Dictionary.com, much later, to 1940–45.^[3]

Semantic evolution

According to Etymonline the word was at first often contrasted with farmers or renters, and it quotes a Kansas newspaper of 1889 which claimed that the city with the largest share of home owners had the smallest share of "dangerous classes".^[2] Wiktionary also records it for someone who has possession of a house and is paying for it in instalments without yet holding the title.^[1]

Timeline

• 1850 – a person who owns the house they live in.^[4] Etymonline dates the word to 1887.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who owns the house or flat they live in: The new levy falls hardest on homeowners in the suburbs.^[5][6][7]
2. Someone who lives in a house and is paying for it in instalments, without yet holding the title to it.^[1]

Word family

• homeownership
• homeowning

Related words

• home
• own
• owner

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin