Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

nail house

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.20 in modern English

Syllables: nail -house
IPA

12

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A private home whose owner refuses to move to clear way for new real estate developments despite offers of small monetary sums from a private developer or expropriation attempts by the government.

Etymology

Calque from Chinese 釘子戶／钉子户 (dīngzihù).

Inflected Forms

nail houses (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

holdout

Questions

What does nail house mean?: A private home whose owner refuses to move to clear way for new real estate developments despite offers of small monetary sums from a private developer or expropriation attempts by the government.
Where does nail house come from?: Calque from Chinese 釘子戶／钉子户 (dīngzihù).

How to pronounce nail house

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “nail house”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “nail house”.
Repeat and practice — Say “nail house” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.