household
/ˈhaʊshoʊld/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.47 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
All the persons who live in a given house or other home; a family including attendants, servants etc.; a domestic or family establishment.
noun
Entirety of work and management required to sustain the household.
noun
Legal or culturally determined unit of people living together.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "And calls, without affecting airs, / His household twice a day to prayers."
- "Shih Hung-pi was born a pauper at a poor household in Suichung County, Liaoning. He suffered untold misery in the old society. Then he joined the PLA."
- "Although I was a member of the royal household, I was not among the privileged few who were trained for rule."
- "Nearly half of all renter households in the US were cost-burdened in 2023, meaning they paid more than 30% of their income towards housing costs, according to new government data."
- "In thee thy mother dies, our household's name, / My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's fame."
- "Whether boarding an airplane with underwear on your face to protest mask requirements, injecting yourself with horse dewormer instead of a safe and effective vaccine or swallowing household disinfectants because the President of the United States unironically suggested that it might help, the pandemic has amplified the frequency and tenor of ridiculous and sometimes alarming behavior."
Etymology
From Middle English houshold. By surface analysis, house + hold. Cognate with Scots houshald, housald, housell, howsell (“household”), Dutch huishouden (“household”) (earlier huishoud), German Low German Huushollen (“household”) (Middle Low German hūsholt), German Haushalt (“household”), Swedish hushåll (“household, family”), Norwegian husholdning (“household”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhaʊshoʊld/
- British English: /ˈhaʊshəʊld/