Etymologically
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household

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 01:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈhaʊs.həʊld/, /ˈhaʊs.əʊld/, US /ˈhaʊs.hoʊld/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English houshold, a compound of hous “house” and hold,[2][3] the second part in a Middle English sense “a dwelling, habitation” that survives in Northern English and Scots.[2] It is related to house and hold.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The contents of a house, household goods and furniture: 1382 in the OED, a sense now obsolete.[4][5] The adjective “of or belonging to a household, domestic” is also from 1382.[4]

Semantic evolution

The people of a house collectively, a family together with its servants, is from 1387–8 in the OED, late 14th century in Etymonline.[4][2] The Household, the royal or imperial household, is from about 1400.[4][5] Housekeeping, keeping a house or family, is from 1489 and is obsolete.[4][5] Household word, one in very familiar use, is from the 1590s, and household name is by 1819.[2] As a technical term it was used on its own for household bread or coal, from 1638.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 1382 – household goods.[4]
  • 1387–8 – the people living in a house.[4][2]
  • c. 1400 – the royal household.[4]
  • 1590s – household word.[2]
  • 1819 – household name.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. All the people who live together in one house, as a family.
  2. The home and everything in it.

Adjective

  1. Relating to or used in a home: household goods.
  2. Very well known: a household name.

Word family

  • householder
  • household art
  • household effects
  • household arts
  • Household Cavalry
  • household god
  • household word

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 h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)