Household

Pronunciation

• UK: IPA: /ˈhaÊŠshəʊld/
• US: enPR: housʹhōld, IPA: /ˈhaÊŠshoÊŠld/

Origin

From Middle English houshold, equivalent to house + hold. Cognate with Dutch huishouden ("household"), German Haushalt ("household"), Swedish hushåll ("household, family"), Norwegian husholdning ("household").

Full definition of household

Noun

1. Collectively, all the persons who live in a given house; a family including attendants, servants etc.; a domestic or family establishment.
• 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 5:Although I was a member of the royal household, I was not among the privileged few who were trained for rule.
• Jonathan SwiftAnd calls, without affecting airs,
  His household twice a day to prayers.
2. (obsolete) A line of ancestry; a race or house.
• 1592, William Shakespeare, , IV. vi. 39:In thee thy mother dies, our household's name,
  My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's fame.

Adjective

1. Belonging to the same house and family.
2. Of anything found in or having its origin in a home.

Derived terms