cottage.
A small house.
Meaning & usage
A small house.
A seasonal home of any size or stature, a recreational home or a home in a remote location.
Most cottages in the area were larger and more elaborate than my home.
A public lavatory.
A meeting place for homosexual men.
Where this word comes from
Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman cotage and Medieval Latin cotagium, from Old Northern French cot, cote (“cottage, hut”) + -age (“surrounding property”), from Old Norse kot, from Proto-Germanic *kutą, *kuta- (“shed”), probably of non-Indo-European origin, possibly borrowed from Proto-Finno-Ugric/Proto-Uralic *kota (“hut, tent”), probably akin to Proto-Iranian *kátah (“house; roof”). However, also compare Dutch and English hut. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Koate (“cottage, hut, small house”), Dutch kot (“ramshackle housing”), German Kate, Kote (“cot, cottage, hut”), Norwegian Bokmål kote (“cot, cottage, hut”), Norwegian Nynorsk kot, kott (“small house; small room”), Norwegian Nynorsk kote, kotto, kåte (“hut”), Swedish kåta (“cot, cottage, hut”), Ainu コタン (kotan, “village; town; island; land; country; place”), Akkala Sami куэһть (kueht’, “hut, tent”), Brahui کڈی (kuḍḍī / kuḍī, “hut, small house; wife”), Erzya кудо (kudo, “house”), Estonian koda (“building, house”), Finnish kota (“house, hut”), Hungarian ház (“house”), Kildin Sami куэдтҍ (kuedt’, “hut”), Komi-Permyak керку (kerku, “house, hut”) Komi-Zyrian керка (kerka, “house; family”), Livonian kuodā (“house”), Malayalam കുടി (kuṭi, “dwelling, house; hut; clan”), Moksha куд (kud, “house”), Mongolian хот (xot), ᠬᠣᠲᠠ (qota, “city, town”), Northern Sami goahti (“hut, tent; den, lair”), Southern Sami gåetie (“house; range; tent”), Tamil குடி (kuṭi, “ryot; tenants; citizens; family, household; descent, lineage; caste, race; house, mansion; village”), Udmurt корка (korka, “house, hut”), Ume Sami gåhtie (“tent”), Votic kõta (“house”); also Abkhaz ақыҭа (akəta, “village; community”), Armenian քաղաք (kʻaġakʻ, “city, town”), Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian ха́та (xáta, “house, hut”), Czech and Polish chata (“hut”), Gurani کەَ (ka, “house”), Pashto کلی (kəlay, “village”), Persian کده (kade, “house; village”), Northern Kurdish kedî (“domestic”), Yaghnobi кат (kat, “house”). Old Northern French cote is probably from Old Norse kot (“hut”), cognate of Old English cot of same Proto-Germanic origin. Slang sense “public toilet” from 19th century, due to resemblance.
To stay at a seasonal home, to go cottaging.
To have homosexual sex in a public lavatory; to practice cottaging.
Where this word comes from
Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman cotage and Medieval Latin cotagium, from Old Northern French cot, cote (“cottage, hut”) + -age (“surrounding property”), from Old Norse kot, from Proto-Germanic *kutą, *kuta- (“shed”), probably of non-Indo-European origin, possibly borrowed from Proto-Finno-Ugric/Proto-Uralic *kota (“hut, tent”), probably akin to Proto-Iranian *kátah (“house; roof”). However, also compare Dutch and English hut. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Koate (“cottage, hut, small house”), Dutch kot (“ramshackle housing”), German Kate, Kote (“cot, cottage, hut”), Norwegian Bokmål kote (“cot, cottage, hut”), Norwegian Nynorsk kot, kott (“small house; small room”), Norwegian Nynorsk kote, kotto, kåte (“hut”), Swedish kåta (“cot, cottage, hut”), Ainu コタン (kotan, “village; town; island; land; country; place”), Akkala Sami куэһть (kueht’, “hut, tent”), Brahui کڈی (kuḍḍī / kuḍī, “hut, small house; wife”), Erzya кудо (kudo, “house”), Estonian koda (“building, house”), Finnish kota (“house, hut”), Hungarian ház (“house”), Kildin Sami куэдтҍ (kuedt’, “hut”), Komi-Permyak керку (kerku, “house, hut”) Komi-Zyrian керка (kerka, “house; family”), Livonian kuodā (“house”), Malayalam കുടി (kuṭi, “dwelling, house; hut; clan”), Moksha куд (kud, “house”), Mongolian хот (xot), ᠬᠣᠲᠠ (qota, “city, town”), Northern Sami goahti (“hut, tent; den, lair”), Southern Sami gåetie (“house; range; tent”), Tamil குடி (kuṭi, “ryot; tenants; citizens; family, household; descent, lineage; caste, race; house, mansion; village”), Udmurt корка (korka, “house, hut”), Ume Sami gåhtie (“tent”), Votic kõta (“house”); also Abkhaz ақыҭа (akəta, “village; community”), Armenian քաղաք (kʻaġakʻ, “city, town”), Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian ха́та (xáta, “house, hut”), Czech and Polish chata (“hut”), Gurani کەَ (ka, “house”), Pashto کلی (kəlay, “village”), Persian کده (kade, “house; village”), Northern Kurdish kedî (“domestic”), Yaghnobi кат (kat, “house”). Old Northern French cote is probably from Old Norse kot (“hut”), cognate of Old English cot of same Proto-Germanic origin. Slang sense “public toilet” from 19th century, due to resemblance.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.