penthouse

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an apartment on the top floor of a tall building, often large and expensive

   The penthouse has a terrace overlooking the river.

2. 2
   noun

   a projecting roof, canopy, or shelter attached to or extending from a building

   The wide brim formed a penthouse that kept the rain from his bandaged face.

Simplified etymology

Penthouse began as Middle English pentis, meaning a shed, outhouse, or lean-to attached to a building. Pentis was shortened from French apentis, ultimately from Latin pendere “to hang.” During the 16th century, its origin was obscured by association with French pente “slope” and English house; the modern sense of a top-floor apartment arose in the United States in the 1890s.

A folk-etymological reshaping of Middle English pentice, from Anglo-Norman pentiz and ultimately Latin appendere ("to hang or append"). Because the projecting shelter looked attached to a house, speakers recast the unfamiliar ending as house. The luxury top-floor apartment sense arose in the twentieth century.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary