Word home in all languages

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Translations: the word in the other languages

• Afrikaans: die huis
• Amharic: የቤት
• Arabic: المنزل
• Azerbaijani: ev
• Bashkir: өйҙә
• Belarusian: дома
• Bulgarian: у дома
• Bengali: বাড়ি
• Bosnian: dom
• Catalan: casa
• Cebuano: home
• Czech: domů
• Welsh: cartref
• Danish: hjem
• German: home
• Greek: το σπίτι
• Esperanto: hejmo
• Spanish: casa
• Estonian: kodu
• Basque: hasiera
• Persian: صفحه اصلی
• Finnish: kotiin
• French: la maison
• Irish: baile
• Scottish Gaelic: dachaigh
• Galician: casa
• Gujarati: ઘર
• Hebrew: בבית
• Hindi: घर
• Croatian: kuće
• Haitian: kay
• Hungarian: otthon
• Armenian: տանը
• Indonesian: rumah
• Icelandic: heim
• Italian: casa
• Japanese: ホーム
• Javanese: ngarep
• Georgian: მთავარი
• Kazakh: үй
• Khmer: ផ្ទះ
• Kannada: ಮುಖಪುಟ
• Korean: 홈
• Kyrgyz: үйдүн
• Latin: domum
• Luxembourgish: home
• Lao: ຫນ້າທໍາອິດ
• Lithuanian: namuose
• Latvian: mājas
• Malagasy: an-trano
• Mari: пӧрт
• Maori: kāinga
• Macedonian: дома
• Malayalam: ഹോം
• Mongolian: нүүр хуудас
• Marathi: मुख्यपृष्ठ
• Hill Mari: тоны
• Malay: rumah
• Maltese: — dar
• Burmese: အိမ်
• Nepali: घर
• Dutch: thuis
• Norwegian: hjem
• Punjabi: ਘਰ
• Papiamento: di kas
• Polish: w domu
• Portuguese: casa
• Romanian: acasă
• Russian: дома
• Sinhalese: ගෙදර
• Slovak: domov
• Slovenian: doma
• Albanian: në shtëpi
• Serbian: код куће
• Sundanese: imah
• Swedish: hem
• Swahili: nyumbani
• Tamil: home
• Telugu: హోం
• Tajik: дар хона
• Thai: กลับบ้าน
• Tagalog: tahanan
• Turkish: ev
• Tatar: йорты
• Udmurt: корка
• Ukrainian: будинку
• Urdu: گھر
• Uzbek: bosh sahifa
• Vietnamese: nhà
• Xhosa: ekhaya
• Yiddish: היים
• Chinese: 家

Synonyms, close and similar words for home

• house
• household
• place
• family
• cottage
• tenement
• nursing home
• native land
• fatherland
• motherland
• cradle
• the native land
• country
• at home
• residence
• lodging
• mansion
• domicile
• roof
• return home
• take home
• hearth
• hearthstone
• fireside
• habitation
• dwelling
• abode
• habitat
• quarters
• pad
• diggings
• home base
• base
• rest home

In French, the terms «foyer» and «chez soi» express the concept of home with a strong nuance of «one’s family’ for the first (foyer is originally the fireplace, and by extension the hearth), while the latter is «one’s own place» and therefore the place where one feels they belong. In some contexts, the word demeure also shares some of the nuances of the English word home.

In Japanese, there are terms like uchi (内) or wagaya (我が家) that can partially cover the concept (the first is broader in that in can cover any in-group to which the speaker belongs, depending on the context, while the second is my/our home/household/family), but their use is more restricted. There is also the term «ibasho» (居場所) which refers to the place where one belongs.

I don’t speak any other languages fluently enough to provide other examples, but I think you’ll find that, as with most terms, and especially those describing abstract concepts, you won’t find a one-to-one correspondence where other languages will have only one word corresponding exactly to home. Rather, as with my French and Japanese examples above, you’ll find that although the concept (or, rather, set of concepts) is quite common, how it is expressed will vary (sometimes considerably) from one language to the next.

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (UK) enPR: hōm, IPA^(key): /(h)əʊm/
• (US) enPR: hōm, IPA^(key): /hoʊm/
• Rhymes: -əʊm
• Homophones: Home, hom, holm, heaume, holme

Noun[edit]

home (plural homes)

1. A dwelling.
   1. One’s own dwelling place; the house or structure in which one lives; especially the house in which one lives with one’s family; the habitual abode of one’s family.
      • 1808, John Dryden, Walter Scott (editor), The Works of John Dryden:

        Thither for ease and soft repose we come: / Home is the sacred refuge of our life; / Secured from all approaches, but a wife.

      • 1822, John Howard Payne, Home! Sweet Home!:

        Home! home! sweet, sweet home! / There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.

      • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 132:

        If we now say that «woman’s place is in the home,» it is not because men put her there, but because the home became the capitol of women’s mysteries.

      • Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

   2. The place (residence, settlement, country, etc.), where a person was born and/or raised; childhood or parental home; home of one’s parents or guardian.
      • 2004, Jean Harrison, Home:

        The rights listed in the UNCRC cover all areas of children’s lives such as their right to have a home and their right to be educated.

      Does she still live at home? — No, she moved out and got an apartment when she was 18, but she still lives in the city.

   3. The abiding place of the affections, especially of the domestic affections.
      • 1821, George Gordon Byron, Don Juan, canto III:

        He enter’d in the house—his home no more, / For without hearts there is no home; […]

   4. A house that has been made home-like, to suit the comfort of those who live there.

      It’s what you bring into a house that makes it a home

   5. A place of refuge, rest or care; an asylum.

      a home for outcasts

      a home for the blind

      a veterans’ home

      Instead of a pet store, get your new dog from the local dogs’ home.

   6. (by extension) The grave; the final rest; also, the native and eternal dwelling place of the soul.
      • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Ecclesiastes 12:5:

        […] because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: […]

2. One’s native land; the place or country in which one dwells; the place where one’s ancestors dwell or dwelt.
   • 1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches:

     Visiting these famous localities, and a great many others, I hope that I do not compromise my American patriotism by acknowledging that I was often conscious of a fervent hereditary attachment to the native soil of our forefathers, and felt it to be our own Old Home.

   • So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one’s dreams.

   • 1980, Peter Allen, song, I Still Call Australia Home:

     I’ve been to cities that never close down / From New York to Rio and old London town / But no matter how far or how wide I roam / I still call Australia home.

3. The locality where a thing is usually found, or was first found, or where it is naturally abundant; habitat; seat.

   the home of the pine

   • 1706, Matthew Prior, An Ode, Humbly Inscribed to the Queen, on the ẛucceẛs of Her Majeẛty’s Arms, 1706, as republished in 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), The Works of the British Poets:

     […] Flandria, by plenty made the home of war, / Shall weep her crime, and bow to Charles r’estor’d, […]

   • 1849, Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam A. H. H.:

     Her eyes are homes of silent prayer, / Nor other thought her mind admits / But, he was dead, and there he sits, / And he that brought him back is there.

   • Africa is home to so many premier-league diseases (such as AIDS, childhood diarrhoea, malaria and tuberculosis) that those in lower divisions are easily ignored.

4. A focus point.
   1. (board games) The ultimate point aimed at in a progress; the goal.

      The object of Sorry! is to get all four of your pawns to your home.

   2. (baseball) Home plate.
   3. (lacrosse) The place of a player in front of an opponent’s goal; also, the player.
   4. (Internet) The landing page of a website; the site’s homepage.
   5. (music, informal) The chord at which a melody starts and to which it can resolve.
5. (computing) Clipping of home directory.

Synonyms[edit]

• (one’s own dwelling place): tenement, house, dwelling, abode, domicile, residence
• ((baseball) home plate): home base

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

home (third-person singular simple present homes, present participle homing, simple past and past participle homed)

1. (of animals, transitive) To return to its owner.

   The dog homed.

2. (always with «in on», transitive) To seek or aim for something.

   The missile was able to home in on the target.

   • 2008 July, Ewen Callaway, New Scientist:

     Much like a heat-seeking missile, a new kind of particle homes in on the blood vessels that nourish aggressive cancers, before unleashing a cell-destroying drug.

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

home (not comparable)

1. Of, from, or pertaining to one’s dwelling or country; domestic; not foreign [from 13th c.]

   home manufactures

   home comforts

2. (now rare, except in phrases) That strikes home; direct, pointed. [from 17th c.]

3. (obsolete) Personal, intimate. [17th–19th c.]
   • 1778, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, p. 91:

     I hardly knew what I answered him, but, by degrees I tranquillised, as I found he forbore distressing me any further, by such Home strokes […].

4. (sports) Relating to the home team (the team at whose venue a game is played). [from 19th c.]

   the home end, home advantage, home supporters

   Antonyms: away, road, visitor

Derived terms[edit]

Adverb[edit]

home (not comparable)

1. To one’s home
   1. To one’s place of residence or one’s customary or official location

      come home

      carry someone home

      • 1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches,

        He made no complaint of his ill-fortune, but only repeated in a quiet voice, with a pathos of which he was himself evidently unconscious, «I want to get home to Ninety-second Street, Philadelphia.»

      • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:

        Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln’s Inn.

   2. To one’s place of birth
   3. To the place where it belongs; to the end of a course; to the full length

      She drove the nail home

      ram a cartridge home

      • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

        Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home: […]

      • 1988, Roald Dahl, Matilda

        Eventually she managed to slide the lid of the pencil-box right home and the newt was hers. Then, on second thoughts, she opened the lid just the tiniest fraction so that the creature could breathe.

   4. (Internet) To the home page

      Click here to go home.

2. At or in one’s place of residence or one’s customary or official location; at home

   Everyone’s gone to watch the game; there’s nobody home.

   I’m home!

3. To a full and intimate degree; to the heart of the matter; fully, directly.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, dedication to the Duke of Buckingham, in Essays Civil and Moral,

     I do now publish my Essays; which of all my other works have been most current : for that, as it seems, they come home to men’s business and bosoms.

   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), 6th edition, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:

     How home the charge reaches us, has been made out by ẛhewing with what high impudence ẛome amongẛt us defend sin, […]

   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXVII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:

     Her treatment of you, you say, does no credit either to her education or fine sense. Very home put, truly!

4. (UK, soccer) into the goal
   • 2004, Tottenham 4-4 Leicester, BBC Sport: February,

     Walker was penalised for a picking up a Gerry Taggart backpass and from the resulting free-kick, Keane fired home after Johnnie Jackson’s initial effort was blocked.

5. (nautical) into the right, proper or stowed position

   sails sheeted home

Usage notes[edit]

• Home is often used in the formation of compound words, many of which need no special definition; as, home-brewed, home-built, home-grown, etc.

Synonyms[edit]

• (to home): homeward

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

• home at OneLook Dictionary Search
• home in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “home”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Further reading[edit]

• home on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams[edit]

• Mohe, hemo-

Asturian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin homō, hominem, from Proto-Italic *hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰm̥mṓ.

Noun[edit]

home m (plural homes)

1. man

   L’home equí ye’l fíu la María ― This man here is María’s son

2. person
3. husband

Synonyms[edit]

• (person): persona
• (husband): esposu, maríu

Derived terms[edit]

• home del sacu

Catalan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Catalan home~hom, from Latin hominem, homō (“human being”), from Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Italic *hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.mə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.me/

Noun[edit]

home m (plural homes or hòmens)

1. man
2. husband

   Synonyms: cònjuge, espòs, marit

Antonyms[edit]

Hypernyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

• home llop
• homenet

[edit]

• prohom

Further reading[edit]

• “home” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “home”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “home” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “home” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Classical Nahuatl[edit]

Numeral[edit]

ho̊me

1. (Codex Magliabechiano) Obsolete spelling of ōme

Esperanto[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From homo.

Adverb[edit]

home

1. humanly; in a human fashion

Finnish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Finnic *homeh, from earlier *šomeš, borrowed from Proto-Germanic *swammaz or earlier Pre-Germanic. Cognate to Karelian homeh, Veps homeh.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈhomeˣ/, [ˈho̞me̞(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -ome
• Syllabification^(key): ho‧me

Noun[edit]

home

1. mildew, mold

   Tämä leipä on homeessa.

   This bread is moldy

   (literally, “This bread is in mold.”)

Declension[edit]

Inflection of home (Kotus type 48/hame, no gradation)
nominative	home	homeet
genitive	homeen	homeiden homeitten
partitive	hometta	homeita
illative	homeeseen	homeisiin homeihin
	singular	plural
nominative	home	homeet
accusative	nom.	home	homeet
gen.	homeen
genitive	homeen	homeiden homeitten
partitive	hometta	homeita
inessive	homeessa	homeissa
elative	homeesta	homeista
illative	homeeseen	homeisiin homeihin
adessive	homeella	homeilla
ablative	homeelta	homeilta
allative	homeelle	homeille
essive	homeena	homeina
translative	homeeksi	homeiksi
instructive	—	homein
abessive	homeetta	homeitta
comitative	See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of home (type hame)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative homeeni homeeni accusative nom. homeeni homeeni gen. homeeni genitive homeeni homeideni homeitteni partitive homettani homeitani inessive homeessani homeissani elative homeestani homeistani illative homeeseeni homeisiini homeihini adessive homeellani homeillani ablative homeeltani homeiltani allative homeelleni homeilleni essive homeenani homeinani translative homeekseni homeikseni instructive — — abessive homeettani homeittani comitative — homeineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative homeesi homeesi accusative nom. homeesi homeesi gen. homeesi genitive homeesi homeidesi homeittesi partitive homettasi homeitasi inessive homeessasi homeissasi elative homeestasi homeistasi illative homeeseesi homeisiisi homeihisi adessive homeellasi homeillasi ablative homeeltasi homeiltasi allative homeellesi homeillesi essive homeenasi homeinasi translative homeeksesi homeiksesi instructive — — abessive homeettasi homeittasi comitative — homeinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative homeemme homeemme accusative nom. homeemme homeemme gen. homeemme genitive homeemme homeidemme homeittemme partitive homettamme homeitamme inessive homeessamme homeissamme elative homeestamme homeistamme illative homeeseemme homeisiimme homeihimme adessive homeellamme homeillamme ablative homeeltamme homeiltamme allative homeellemme homeillemme essive homeenamme homeinamme translative homeeksemme homeiksemme instructive — — abessive homeettamme homeittamme comitative — homeinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative homeenne homeenne accusative nom. homeenne homeenne gen. homeenne genitive homeenne homeidenne homeittenne partitive homettanne homeitanne inessive homeessanne homeissanne elative homeestanne homeistanne illative homeeseenne homeisiinne homeihinne adessive homeellanne homeillanne ablative homeeltanne homeiltanne allative homeellenne homeillenne essive homeenanne homeinanne translative homeeksenne homeiksenne instructive — — abessive homeettanne homeittanne comitative — homeinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative homeensa homeensa accusative nom. homeensa homeensa gen. homeensa genitive homeensa homeidensa homeittensa partitive homettaan homettansa homeitaan homeitansa inessive homeessaan homeessansa homeissaan homeissansa elative homeestaan homeestansa homeistaan homeistansa illative homeeseensa homeisiinsa homeihinsa adessive homeellaan homeellansa homeillaan homeillansa ablative homeeltaan homeeltansa homeiltaan homeiltansa allative homeelleen homeellensa homeilleen homeillensa essive homeenaan homeenansa homeinaan homeinansa translative homeekseen homeeksensa homeikseen homeiksensa instructive — — abessive homeettaan homeettansa homeittaan homeittansa comitative — homeineen homeinensa

Anagrams[edit]

• hemo

Galician[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• homem (Reintegrationist)

Etymology[edit]

From Old Galician-Portuguese ome, omẽe, from Latin homō, hominem, from Proto-Italic *hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰm̥mṓ.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [ˈɔ.mɪ]

Noun[edit]

home m (plural homes)

1. human; person

   Unha sebe tres anos dura; un can tres sebes; unha mula tres cans; un home tres mulas (proverb)

   A hedge lasts three years; a dog three hedges; a mule three dogs; a person three mules

2. mankind

   O home chegou á Lúa en 1969 ― Mankind arrived to the Moon in 1969

3. man (adult male)

   Home casado muller é (proverb) ― The Married man is a woman

4. male human

   Home pequeno fol de veleno (proverb) ― Small man, skin [bag] of venom

5. husband

   Éste é o meu home, Xaquín ― This is my husband, Joachim

Derived terms[edit]

• homiño (“little man”)
• lobishome (“werewolf”)
• ricohome (“magnate”)

Interjection[edit]

home

1. man! (expresses surprise, or mild annoyance)

   -Es o campión do mundo? Contento? —Home!… ― -You’re the champion of the world? Are you happy? —Man!… [Of course I’m happy, what kind of question is this?]

Derived terms[edit]

• ho

See also[edit]

• persoa

References[edit]

• “home” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI — ILGA 2006–2022.
• “home” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez — Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “home” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI — ILGA 2006–2013.
• “home” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “home” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
• “home” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).

Ingrian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Finnic *homeh. Cognates include Finnish home and Veps homeh.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈhome/, [ˈho̞me̞]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈhome/, [ˈho̞me̞]
• Rhymes: -ome
• Hyphenation: ho‧me

Noun[edit]

home

1. mould

Declension[edit]

Declension of home (type 6/lähe, no gradation, gemination)
	singular	plural
nominative	home	hommeet
genitive	hommeen	hommein
partitive	hometta	hommeita
illative	hommeesse	hommeisse
inessive	hommees	hommeis
elative	hommeest	hommeist
allative	hommeelle	hommeille
adessive	hommeel	hommeil
ablative	hommeelt	hommeilt
translative	hommeeks	hommeiks
essive	hommeenna, hommeen	hommeinna, hommein
exessive1)	hommeent	hommeint
1) obsolete *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

References[edit]

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 67

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English home.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈom/, (careful style) /ˈowm/^[1][2]
• Rhymes: -om, (careful style) -owm

Noun[edit]

home f (invariable)

1. (computing) home (initial position of various computing objects)

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

• ohmè

Leonese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin homō, hominem, from Proto-Italic *hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰm̥mṓ.

Noun[edit]

home m (plural homes)

1. man

Further reading[edit]

• AEDLL

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

home (plural homes)

1. Alternative form of hom (“home”)

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

home

1. Alternative form of whom (“whom”)

Etymology 3[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

home

1. Alternative form of hem (“them”)

Etymology 4[edit]

Noun[edit]

home (plural homes)

1. Alternative form of hamme (“enclosure; meadow”)

Etymology 5[edit]

Noun[edit]

home

1. Alternative form of hame (“hame (part of a harness)”)

Etymology 6[edit]

Verb[edit]

home (third-person singular simple present hometh, present participle homende, homynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle homed)

1. Alternative form of hummen (“to hum”)

Mirandese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin homō, hominem, from Proto-Italic *hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰm̥mṓ.

Noun[edit]

home m (plural homes)

1. man
2. husband

Antonyms[edit]

• mulhier

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Verb[edit]

home (present tense homar, past tense homa, past participle homa, passive infinitive homast, present participle homande, imperative home/hom)

1. alternative form of homa (non-standard since 2012)

Old French[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

see hom for alternative nominative singular forms

Etymology[edit]

From Vulgar Latin *(h)omne, Latin hominem, accusative singular of homō. The nominative form hom, om, on, hon derives from the Latin nominative homō.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈu.mə/

Noun[edit]

home m (oblique plural homes, nominative singular hom, nominative plural home)

(oblique case)

1. man (male adult human being)
2. man (mankind; Homo sapiens)

   • circa 1120, Philippe de Taon, Bestiaire, line 476:

     O HOM de sancte vie, entent que signefie

     O MAN of sacred life, listen to what this means

3. vassal; manservant

Coordinate terms[edit]

• fame (“woman”)

Descendants[edit]

• Middle French: homme
  • French: homme, Homme
    • Haitian Creole: lòm
    • Karipúna Creole French: uóm
    • Louisiana Creole: n’homme
    • Saint Dominican Creole French: n’homme
      • Haitian Creole: nonm
    • →⇒ English: en homme
  • French: on, l’on
    • → Esperanto: oni
      • → Ido: onu
    • → Interlingue: on
• Norman: houme (France), haomme (Guernsey), houmme (Jersey)
• Picard: onme
• Walloon: ome

References[edit]

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (homme)
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (homme, supplement)
• home on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “homo”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 4: G H I, page 455 (contains a reference to the nominative singular forms hom, huem and om)

Old Galician-Portuguese[edit]

Noun[edit]

home m

1. Alternative form of ome

Old Occitan[edit]

Noun[edit]

home m (oblique plural homes, nominative singular hom, nominative plural home)

1. Alternative form of ome

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Denasalization of homem.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

home m (plural homes)

1. (nonstandard) Alternative form of homem

This article is about the concept of residence. For the structure, see House. For other uses, see Home (disambiguation).

For the home page of Wikipedia, see Main Page.

A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be performed such as sleeping, preparing food, eating and hygiene as well as providing spaces for work and leisure such as remote working, studying and playing.

Physical forms of homes can be static such as a house or an apartment, mobile such as a houseboat, trailer or yurt or digital such as virtual space.^[1] The aspect of ‘home’ can be considered across scales; from the micro scale showcasing the most intimate spaces of the individual dwelling and direct surrounding area to the macro scale of the geographic area such as town, village, city, country or planet.

The concept of ‘home’ has been researched and theorized across disciplines – topics ranging from the idea of home, the interior, the psyche, liminal space, contested space to gender and politics.^[2] The home as a concept expands beyond residence as contemporary lifestyles and technological advances redefine the way the global population lives and works.^{[citation needed]} The concept and experience encompasses the likes of exile, yearning, belonging, homesickness and homelessness.^[3]

History

Prehistoric era

The earliest homes that humans inhabited were likely naturally occurring features such as caves. The earliest human fossils found in caves come from a series of caves near Krugersdorp and Mokopane in South Africa. The cave sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai B, Drimolen, Malapa, Cooper’s D, Gladysvale, Gondolin and Makapansgat have yielded a range of early human species dating back to between three and one million years ago, including Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus sediba and Paranthropus robustus. However, it is not generally thought that these early humans were living in the caves, but that they were brought into the caves by carnivores that had killed them.^{[citation needed]}

The first early hominid ever found in Africa, the Taung Child in 1924, was also thought for many years to come from a cave, where it had been deposited after being preyed upon by an eagle. However, this is now debated.^[4] Caves do form in the dolomite of the Ghaap Plateau, including the Early, Middle and Later Stone Age site of Wonderwerk Cave; however, the caves that form along the escarpment’s edge, like that hypothesized for the Taung Child, are formed within a secondary limestone deposit called tufa. There is numerous evidence for other early human species inhabiting caves from at least one million years ago in different parts of the world, including Homo erectus in China at Zhoukoudian, Homo rhodesiensis in South Africa at the Cave of Hearths (Makapansgat), Homo neanderthalensis and Homo heidelbergensis in Europe at Archaeological Site of Atapuerca, Homo floresiensis in Indonesia, and the Denisovans in southern Siberia.

In southern Africa, early modern humans regularly used sea caves as shelter starting about 180,000 years ago when they learned to exploit the sea for the first time.^[5] The oldest known site is PP13B at Pinnacle Point. This may have allowed rapid expansion of humans out of Africa and colonization of areas of the world such as Australia by 60–50,000 years ago. Throughout southern Africa, Australia, and Europe, early modern humans used caves and rock shelters as sites for rock art, such as those at Giants Castle. Caves such as the yaodong in China were used for shelter; other caves were used for burials (such as rock-cut tombs), or as religious sites (such as Buddhist caves). Among the known sacred caves are China’s Cave of a Thousand Buddhas^[6] and the sacred caves of Crete. As technology progressed, humans and other hominids began constructing their own dwellings. Buildings such as huts and longhouses have been used for living since the late Neolithic.^[7]

Ancient era

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Post-classical era

From the 14th to the 16th century, homelessness was perceived of as a «vagrancy problem» and legislative responses to the problem were predicated upon the threat it may pose to the state.^[8]

Modern era

According to Kirsten Gram-Hanssen, «It can be argued that historically and cross-culturally there is not always [a] strong relation between the concept of home and the physical building, and that this mode of thinking is rooted in the Enlightenment of the seventeenth century».^[9] Before, one’s home was more public than private; traits such as privacy, intimacy and familiarity would proceed to achieve greater prominence, aligning the concept with the bourgeoisie.^[10][11] The connection between home and house was reinforced by a case law declaration from Edward Coke: «The house of everyman is to him as his castle and fortresse, as well as his defense against injury and violence, as for his repose». Colloquially, this was adapted into the phrase «The Englishman’s home is his castle» which popularised the notion of home as house.^[12]

A result of the longstanding association between home and women, 18th century English women, of upper-class status, were scorned for pursuing activities outside of the home, thus seen to be of undesirable character.^[13] The concept of home took on unprecedent prominence by the 18th century, reified by cultural practice.^[14]

The concept of a smart home arose in the 19th century in turn with electricity having been introduced to homes in a limited capacity.^[9] The distinction between home and work formulated in the 20th century, with home acting as sanctuary.^[15] Modern definitions portray home as a site of supreme comfort and familial intimacy, operating as a buffer to the greater world.^[13]

Common types

The concept of home is one with multiple interpretations, influenced by one’s history and identity.^[16] People of differing ages, genders, ethnicities and classes may have resultingly different meanings of home.^[17] Commonly, it is associated with various forms of abodes such as wagons, cars, boats or tents although it is equally considered to extend beyond the space, in mind and emotion.^[8][18][19] The space of a home need not be significant or fixed though the boundaries of home are often tied to the space.^[18][19] There have been multiple theories regarding one’s choice of home with the residential conditions of their childhood often reflected in their later choice of home.^[10] According to Paul Oliver, the vast majority of abodes are vernacular, constructed in accordance with the residents’ needs.^[20]

House

A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.^[21][22]

The social unit that lives in a house is known as a household. Most commonly, a household is a family unit of some kind, although households may also be other social groups, such as roommates or, in a rooming house, unconnected individuals. Some houses only have a dwelling space for one family or similar-sized group; larger houses called townhouses or row houses may contain numerous family dwellings in the same structure. A house may be accompanied by outbuildings, such as a garage for vehicles or a shed for gardening equipment and tools. A house may have a backyard or a front yard or both, which serve as additional areas where inhabitants can relax or eat.^{[citation needed]} Houses may provide «certain activities, which gradually accumulate meaning until they become homes».^[19]

Joseph Rykwert distinguished between home and house in their physicality; a house requires a building whereas a home does not.^[23] Home and house are often used interchangeably, although their connotations may differ: house being «emotionally netural» and home evoking «personal, cognitive aspects».^[19][24] By the mid-18th century, the definition of home had extended beyond a house.^[14] «Few English words are filled with the emotional meaning of the word home».^[13]

Moveable structures

Home as constitutionally mobile and transient has been contended by anthropologists and sociologist.^[25] A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Used as permanent homes, or for holiday or temporary accommodation, they are often left permanently or semi-permanently in one place, but can be moved, and may be required to move from time to time for legal reasons.

A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities. However, many are capable of operation under their own power. Float house is a Canadian and American term for a house on a float (raft); a rough house may be called a shanty boat.^[26] In Western countries, houseboats tend to be either owned privately or rented out to holiday-goers, and on some canals in Europe, people dwell in houseboats all year round. Examples of this include, but are not limited to, Amsterdam, London, and Paris.^[27]

A traditional yurt or ger is a portable round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure consists of an angled assembly or latticework of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent. The roof structure is often self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Modern yurts may be permanently built on a wooden platform; they may use modern materials such as steam-bent wooden framing or metal framing, canvas or tarpaulin, plexiglass dome, wire rope, or radiant insulation.

Management

Housing cooperative

Repair

Housekeeping

Tenure

Owner-occupancy

Rental accommodation

Squatting

Homelessness

The state of being without a home can occur in may ways,^[36] ranging from the upheavals of natural disasters,^[37] fraud, theft, arson, or war-related destruction, to the more common voluntary sale, loss for one or more occupants on relationship breakdown, expropriation by government or legislated cause, repossession or foreclosure to pay secured debts, eviction by landlords, disposal by time-limited means – lease, or absolute gift. Jurisdiction-dependent means of home loss include adverse possession, unpaid property taxation and corruption such as in circumstances of a failed state.

Personal insolvency, development or sustaining of mental illness or severe physical incapacity without affordable domestic care commonly lead to a change of home. The underlying character of a home may be debased by structural defects, natural subsidence, neglect or soil contamination. Refugees are people who have fled their homes due to violence or persecution. They may seek temporary housing in a shelter or they may claim asylum in another country in an attempt to relocate permanently.^{[citation needed]} A dysfunctional home life commonly precipitates one’s homelessness.^[36]

The dichotomy between home and homelessness is to the extent that the concept of home, scholars have said, is dependent on homelessness: «in a sense, without homelessness, we would not be concerned with what home means».^[36]

Anthropogenic significance

The connection between humans and dwelling is profound, such that, the likes of Gaston Bachelard and Martin Heidegger consider it an «essential characteristic» of humanity.^[24] A home is generally a place that is close to the heart of the owner, and can become a prized possession. It has been argued that psychologically «The strongest sense of home commonly coincides geographically with a dwelling. Usually, the sense of home attenuates as one moves away from that point, but it does not do so in a fixed or regular way.»^[38] A person’s conception of home can be dependent on congealing conditions, such as culture, geography or emotion; the sense of being at home may be contingent upon the presence of multiple emotions, such as joy, sorrow, nostalgia and pride.^[39][40] Further psychological interperation contends that homes serve the purpose of satisfying identity-based desires and expression and that it functions as a «symbol of the self», bound to the events of one’s life.^[17][41] Emmanuel Levinas wrote of home as where, upon seclusion from the greater world, a sense of self can be regained.^[42]

There exist many connotations regarding the concept of a home, including of security, identity, ritual and socialisation, varied definitions and residents may associate their home with meanings, emotions, experiences and relationships.^[9][10][43] Home has been described as an «essentially contested concept».^[44] Common connotations of home are espoused by both those with or without a home.^[8] It is the sociality and action of homes which some scholars have said conditions a house in to a home, which is, according to Gram-Hanssen, «a phenomenon made by its residents».^[45] Dysfunctional sociality may negate the sense of a residence being a home whereas the physical contents may endow the sense; alienated from home one may feel «metaphorically homeless».^[46][47][a] Romantic or nostalgic notions are typical in the conceptions of «ideal homes», at once a cultural and individual concept.^[12][48] An ideal working-class home in Postwar Britain was one of comfort and cleanliness, plentiful with food and compassion.^[49]

In modern America, an owned house has greater cachet as a home than other residences; debate exists as to if a rooming house can provide a home.^[10][50] Some housing scholars have contended that a conflation of house and home is the result of popular media and capitalist interest.^[12] Differing cultures may perceive the concept of a home differently, ascribing less value to the privacy of a residence or the residence itself – although housing issues have been seen as of great concern to immigrants.^[10][b] The home can render to men and women in significant differences: men conditioned to experience great control and little labour and vice versa for women; homelessness too can be subject to differences per gender.^[8][36] Sociologist Shelley Mallett preposed the idea of home as abstractions: space, feeling, praxis or «a way of being in the world».^[10] Abstract notions of home are present in the proverb «A house is not a home».^[36]

Since it can be said that humans are generally creatures of habit, the state of a person’s home has been known to physiologically influence their behavior, emotions, and overall mental health.^[51] Marianne Gullestad wrote of the home as the center of and as an attempt to amalgamate everyday life; one’s conduct there, she said, can reflect greater culture or social values, such as gender roles insinuating the home to be the domain of women.^[10][c] To be homesick is to desire belonging, said Zygmunt Bauman.^[8] Places like homes can trigger self-reflection, thoughts about who someone is or used to be or who they might become.^[53] These types of reflections also occur in places where there is a collective historical identity, such as Gettysburg or Ground Zero.^[54] The time spent with one’s home is a considerable element in establishing one’s attachment.^[10] Those without significant time spent of their life in a residence often struggle to consider home as a feature of residences.^[8] The perception of one’s home can extend beyond the residence itself, to their neighbourhood, family, workplace or nation and one may feel as though they have multiple homes; to have felt at home beyond residence can be a significant element in one’s appraisal of their life, a time in which notions of home, it has been observed, are more profound.^{[10][55][56][52]} The connection between home and family is pertinent, to the extent that some scholars consider the terms to be synonymous.^[12]

See also

Notes

References

External links