townhouse

Etymology

It is formed from English town + house,^[2][3][4] and also appears with a space or a hyphen between its parts.^[2][3][1] The OED notes that some early forms are from the genitive of town, and compares the earlier town hall for the first sense and country house for the second.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A public building for local government, courts and meetings; a town hall: c. 1518, in Virgilius.^[2] Etymonline also dates this sense to the 1520s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant a town hall,^[2][3] and Johnson (1755) still defined it as the hall where public business is done, quoting Addison.^[4] From 1597 it could also mean an almshouse or workhouse, a sense that lasted in Connecticut,^[2] and in 19th-century New England a town prison.^[2] A house in a town, especially one kept by someone who also had a country property, is recorded from 1571,^[2] although Etymonline dates this sense to 1825 and ties it to well-off families that had country houses as well.^[3] In the 20th century the word was used for a tall terraced house of three or more storeys in the Georgian style (1900), and then, first in North America, for a modern medium-sized house on a housing development (1965).^[2] Etymonline dates the American sense of suburban attached housing to about 1968.^[3] The town hall sense survives chiefly in Scotland.^[5][6]

Timeline

• c. 1518 – a town hall.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1520s.^[3]
• 1571 – a house in a town, especially of someone with a house in the country.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1825.^[3]
• 1597 – an almshouse or workhouse (now historical).^[2]
• 1857 – in New England, a town prison (now rare).^[2]
• 1900 – a tall terraced house of three or more storeys, in the Georgian style.^[2]
• 1965 – originally North American, a modern medium-sized house on a housing development.^[2] Etymonline dates attached suburban housing of this kind to about 1968.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A house, usually of two or three storeys, in a row of houses joined by shared side walls, often in a planned development: They bought a townhouse near the river with a small garden at the back.^[7][5][8][1]
2. A residence in a town or city, especially one kept by a person who also has a house in the country.^[5][2][7]
3. (chiefly Scottish) A town hall.^[5][6][2]

Related words

• town
• house
• town hall
• country house
• terrace

Usage notes

In American legal usage a townhouse in a planned development is also called a townhome.^[8] Collins describes the British townhouse as a fashionable terraced house, often with the main living room on the first floor and a garage built in on the ground floor.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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.
5. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West