homeless

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈhoʊmlɪs/ See IPA manual

Freq #4040

Meanings

1

adj
Having nowhere to live.

Many homeless people sleep on the benches in the park.
2

noun
People who have no home to live in.

The charity provides hot meals for the homeless.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · people who have no home to... homeless person

Word family

Derived forms antihomelesshomelesslyhomelessnessnonhomeless

Related forms home

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

homeless person
a person who does not have a stable place to live

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English *homles, *hamles, from Old English hāmlēas (“homeless”), equivalent to home + -less. Cognate with Dutch heemloos, Danish hjemløs (“homeless”), Swedish hemlös (“homeless”). Compare also German heimatlos (“homeless”), Icelandic heimilislaus (“homeless”), West Frisian dakleas (“homeless”, literally “having no roof, roofless”).

*homles Middle English hāmlēas Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# homeless

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈhoʊmlɪs/
**Frequency rank:** 4040

## Meanings
1. Having nowhere to live.
2. People who have no home to live in.

## Examples
- Many homeless people sleep on the benches in the park.
- The charity provides hot meals for the homeless.

## Derived Forms
- antihomeless
- homelessly
- homelessness
- nonhomeless

## Related Forms
- home

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *homles
- Root: hāmlēas
- Affix: -less - without

## Etymology
From Middle English *homles, *hamles, from Old English hāmlēas (“homeless”), equivalent to home + -less. Cognate with Dutch heemloos, Danish hjemløs (“homeless”), Swedish hemlös (“homeless”). Compare also German heimatlos (“homeless”), Icelandic heimilislaus (“homeless”), West Frisian dakleas (“homeless”, literally “having no roof, roofless”).

## AI Etymology
Homeless comes from Middle English *homles, *hamles, from Old English hāmlēas (“homeless”), equivalent to home + -less. Cognate with Dutch heemloos, Danish hjemløs (“homeless”), Swedish hemlös (“homeless”). Compare also German heimatlos (“homeless”), Icelandic heimilislaus (“homeless”), West Frisian dakleas (“homeless”, literally “having no roof, roofless”). The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix. In current use, the main senses are “Having nowhere to live” and “People who have no home to live in”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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