playhouse

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English pleghūs (“play-house, theatre”),^[2][3][4][5] a compound from Old English plega + hūs, the ancestors of play and house.^[2][6] The OED compares playing-house and playing-place.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A theatre: the Old English word glosses Latin theatrum, and Bosworth–Toller cites it for "the heavenly theatre" in a gloss.^[4][3] The OED's first record is in the Old English glosses on Aldhelm,^[6] and Merriam-Webster dates the sense to before the 12th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The Shorter Oxford notes that the Old English word is an isolated use before the late 16th century;^[5] Dictionary.com dates it from 1590–1600.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as a house where plays are represented, quoting Shakespeare's Henry VIII.^[8] In slang a playhouse was a brothel from 1699, and in American underworld use a prison with a lenient regime.^[9] The sense of a toy house for children to play in is recorded from 1789, in Arthur Young's journal of his travels in France.^[6][5]

Timeline

• Old English – pleghūs, a theatre.^[6][3]
• late 16th century – a theatre, again in common use.^[5][4]
• 1699 – slang, a brothel.^[9]
• 1789 – a toy house for children to play in.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A theatre where plays are performed live: The old playhouse reopened with a comedy.^[10][7][6]
2. A small house or hut built for children to play in, or a toy house.^[10][7][6]

Related words

• play
• house
• theatre

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
4. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins