Etymologically
Log in

innkeeper

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word innkeeper

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 1449 Records of the City of Norwich More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origins
Old English innMiddle English keper
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English inn
English innkeeper

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɪnkiːpəɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English inn + keeper.[2][3][4][5] The OED compares innholder.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who runs an inn or tavern: about 1449, in the records of the city of Norwich.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also dates it to the 15th century,[6] but Etymonline and Dictionary.com give only the 1540s.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The compound appears about when its two elements had the senses it needs: inn as a public house with lodging, certain by about 1400, and keeper as one who carries on a business, from the mid-15th century.[3] Johnson (1755) defines the innkeeper as one who keeps lodgings and provisions for travellers, quoting Taylor's Rule of Holy Living: "Clergymen must not keep a tavern, nor a judge be an innkeeper."[5] The revised OED adds figurative contexts.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the American Heritage Dictionary extend the word to the hotel business,[6][7] while the Oxford Dictionary of English marks it as chiefly archaic.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1449 – a person who runs an inn or tavern.[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1540s.[3]
  • 1649 – with the first element in the plural.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who owns or runs an inn or hotel: The innkeeper lit a fire for the wet travellers.[9][7][2][6]
  2. A person who works in a supervisory or managing role in the hotel business.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Innkeeper.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/innkeeper. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·