homestead

C2 Topic:House & Home

US /ˈhoʊmˌstɛd/ See IPA manual

Freq #24038

Meanings

1

noun
A house and the land and buildings around it, especially on a farm.

The family had lived on the same homestead for three generations.
2

verb
To settle on a piece of land and build a home and farm on it.

In the nineteenth century, thousands of settlers moved west to homestead the open plains.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms homesteads

Derived forms homesteaderseasteadshopstead

Related forms crofthomesteadinghsteadsmallholding

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

homestead law
a law granting particular rights or protections to owners of a homestead

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Homestead is an Old English compound that literally means “home place.” Its second element is stead, from Old English stede, “place,” a Germanic word related to Dutch stad and German Statt.

Etymology

From Middle English hamstede, hemstede (attested in placenames), from Old English hāmstede (“homestead”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimastadi (“homestead”). By surface analysis, home + stead. Cognate with Old Frisian hāmstede, hēmstede (“homestead”), Dutch heemstede (“homestead”), German Heimstatt, Heimstätte (“homestead”), Swedish hemstad (“homestead”), Old Icelandic heimstǫð (“homestead”). Doublet of Hampstead and Hempstead.

hamstede Middle English hāmstede Old English *haimastadi Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

House & Home

External links

# homestead

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈhoʊmˌstɛd/
**Frequency rank:** 24038

## Meanings
1. A house and the land and buildings around it, especially on a farm.
2. To settle on a piece of land and build a home and farm on it.

## Examples
- The family had lived on the same homestead for three generations.
- In the nineteenth century, thousands of settlers moved west to homestead the open plains.

## Derived Forms
- homesteader
- seastead
- shopstead

## Related Forms
- croft
- homesteading
- hstead
- smallholding

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hamstede
- Root: hāmstede
- Root: *haimastadi

## Etymology
From Middle English hamstede, hemstede (attested in placenames), from Old English hāmstede (“homestead”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimastadi (“homestead”). By surface analysis, home + stead. Cognate with Old Frisian hāmstede, hēmstede (“homestead”), Dutch heemstede (“homestead”), German Heimstatt, Heimstätte (“homestead”), Swedish hemstad (“homestead”), Old Icelandic heimstǫð (“homestead”). Doublet of Hampstead and Hempstead.

## AI Etymology
Homestead is from Middle English hamstede, hemstede (attested in placenames), from Old English hāmstede (“homestead”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimastadi (“homestead”). By surface analysis, home + stead. Cognate with Old Frisian hāmstede, hēmstede (“homestead”), Dutch heemstede (“homestead”), German Heimstatt, Heimstätte (“homestead”), Swedish hemstad (“homestead”), Old Icelandic heimstǫð (“homestead”). Doublet of Hampstead and Hempstead. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern form is built from the named base and affix. Important recorded forms include hamstede (Middle English), hāmstede (Old English), and *haimastadi (Proto-West Germanic). Current senses include a house and the land and buildings around it, especially on a farm and to settle on a piece of land and build a home and farm on it. The wider family includes derived forms such as homesteader, seastead, and shopstead; related words such as croft, homesteading, hstead, and smallholding.

## Topics
- House & Home

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