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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

home.

A dwelling.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/həʊm/Received-Pronunciation/hoʊm/US[hoːm]Canada/hom/Scotland
  1. A dwelling. One’s own dwelling place; the house or structure in which one lives; especially the house in which one lives with one's family; the habitual abode of one’s family.

  2. A dwelling. The place (residence, settlement, country, etc.), where a person was born or raised; a childhood or parental home; the home of one’s parents or guardian.

    Does she still live at home? - No, she moved out and got an apartment when she was 18, but she still lives in the city.
  3. A dwelling. The abiding place of the affections, especially of the domestic affections.

  4. A dwelling. A house that has been made homelike, to suit the comfort of those who live there.

    It's what you bring into a house that makes it a home
  5. A dwelling. A place of refuge, rest or care; an asylum.

    a home for outcasts
    a home for the blind
  6. A dwelling. The grave; the final rest; also, the native and eternal dwelling place of the soul.

    broadly
  7. A dwelling. Anything that serves the functions of a home, as comfort, safety, sense of belonging, etc.

    broadly
  8. One’s native land; the place or country in which one dwells; the place where one’s ancestors dwell or dwelt.

  9. The locality where a thing is usually found, or was first found, or where it is naturally abundant; habitat; seat.

    the home of the pine
  10. A focus point. The ultimate point aimed at in a progress; the goal.

    The object of Sorry! is to get all four of your pawns to your home.
  11. A focus point. Home plate.

  12. A focus point. The place of a player in front of an opponent’s goal; also, the player.

  13. A focus point. The landing page of a website; the site's homepage.

    Internet
  14. A focus point. The chord at which a melody starts and to which it can resolve.

    informal
  15. Clipping of home directory.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem. Cognates Cognate with Scots hame (“home”), Yola haime, hime, hyme (“home”), Saterland Frisian Heem (“home”), Alemannic German haim, hei, heim, hemmu (“home”), Bavarian hama, hame (“home”), Cimbrian hòam, huam (“home”), Dutch heem, heim (“home”), German Heim (“home”), Limburgish heim, Héïm (“home”), Luxembourgish Heem (“home”), Mòcheno hoa'm (“home”), Vilamovian ham, hām, haom (“home”), Yiddish היים (heym, “home”), Danish hjem (“home”), Faroese, Icelandic heim (“home”), heimur (“world”), Norwegian Bokmål heim, hjem (“home”), Norwegian Nynorsk heim (“home”), Swedish hem (“home”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 (haims, “village”), Irish caoimh (“dear”), Lithuanian kaimas (“village”), šeima (“family”), Albanian komb (“nation, people”), Ancient Greek κώμη (kṓmē, “village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (kittari, “it lies”), Ancient Greek κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie down”), Latin civis (“citizen”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬈 (saēte, “he lies, rests”), Sanskrit शये (śáye, “he lies”)).

verb/həʊm/Received-Pronunciation/hoʊm/US[hoːm]Canada/hom/Scotland
  1. To return to its owner.

    intransitive
    The dog homed.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem. Cognates Cognate with Scots hame (“home”), Yola haime, hime, hyme (“home”), Saterland Frisian Heem (“home”), Alemannic German haim, hei, heim, hemmu (“home”), Bavarian hama, hame (“home”), Cimbrian hòam, huam (“home”), Dutch heem, heim (“home”), German Heim (“home”), Limburgish heim, Héïm (“home”), Luxembourgish Heem (“home”), Mòcheno hoa'm (“home”), Vilamovian ham, hām, haom (“home”), Yiddish היים (heym, “home”), Danish hjem (“home”), Faroese, Icelandic heim (“home”), heimur (“world”), Norwegian Bokmål heim, hjem (“home”), Norwegian Nynorsk heim (“home”), Swedish hem (“home”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 (haims, “village”), Irish caoimh (“dear”), Lithuanian kaimas (“village”), šeima (“family”), Albanian komb (“nation, people”), Ancient Greek κώμη (kṓmē, “village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (kittari, “it lies”), Ancient Greek κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie down”), Latin civis (“citizen”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬈 (saēte, “he lies, rests”), Sanskrit शये (śáye, “he lies”)).

adj/həʊm/Received-Pronunciation/hoʊm/US[hoːm]Canada/hom/Scotland
  1. Of, from, or pertaining to one’s dwelling or country; domestic; not foreign.

    not-comparable
    home manufactures
  2. That strikes home; direct, pointed.

    archaic · not-comparable
    a home truth
  3. Personal, intimate.

    not-comparable · obsolete
  4. Relating to the home team (the team at whose venue a game is played).

    not-comparable
    the home end, home advantage, home supporters
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem. Cognates Cognate with Scots hame (“home”), Yola haime, hime, hyme (“home”), Saterland Frisian Heem (“home”), Alemannic German haim, hei, heim, hemmu (“home”), Bavarian hama, hame (“home”), Cimbrian hòam, huam (“home”), Dutch heem, heim (“home”), German Heim (“home”), Limburgish heim, Héïm (“home”), Luxembourgish Heem (“home”), Mòcheno hoa'm (“home”), Vilamovian ham, hām, haom (“home”), Yiddish היים (heym, “home”), Danish hjem (“home”), Faroese, Icelandic heim (“home”), heimur (“world”), Norwegian Bokmål heim, hjem (“home”), Norwegian Nynorsk heim (“home”), Swedish hem (“home”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 (haims, “village”), Irish caoimh (“dear”), Lithuanian kaimas (“village”), šeima (“family”), Albanian komb (“nation, people”), Ancient Greek κώμη (kṓmē, “village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (kittari, “it lies”), Ancient Greek κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie down”), Latin civis (“citizen”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬈 (saēte, “he lies, rests”), Sanskrit शये (śáye, “he lies”)).

adv/həʊm/Received-Pronunciation/hoʊm/US[hoːm]Canada/hom/Scotland
  1. To one's home. To one's place of residence or one's customary or official location.

    not-comparable
    go home
    come home
  2. To one's home. To one's place of birth.

    not-comparable
  3. To one's home. To the place where it belongs; to the end of a course; to the full length.

    not-comparable
    She drove the nail home
    ram a cartridge home
  4. To one's home. To the home page.

    Internet · not-comparable
    Click here to go home.
  5. At or in one's place of residence or one's customary or official location; at home.

    not-comparable
  6. To a full and intimate degree; to the heart of the matter; fully, directly.

    not-comparable
  7. into the goal

    UK · not-comparable
  8. into the right, proper or stowed position

    not-comparable
    sails sheeted home
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem. Cognates Cognate with Scots hame (“home”), Yola haime, hime, hyme (“home”), Saterland Frisian Heem (“home”), Alemannic German haim, hei, heim, hemmu (“home”), Bavarian hama, hame (“home”), Cimbrian hòam, huam (“home”), Dutch heem, heim (“home”), German Heim (“home”), Limburgish heim, Héïm (“home”), Luxembourgish Heem (“home”), Mòcheno hoa'm (“home”), Vilamovian ham, hām, haom (“home”), Yiddish היים (heym, “home”), Danish hjem (“home”), Faroese, Icelandic heim (“home”), heimur (“world”), Norwegian Bokmål heim, hjem (“home”), Norwegian Nynorsk heim (“home”), Swedish hem (“home”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 (haims, “village”), Irish caoimh (“dear”), Lithuanian kaimas (“village”), šeima (“family”), Albanian komb (“nation, people”), Ancient Greek κώμη (kṓmē, “village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (kittari, “it lies”), Ancient Greek κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie down”), Latin civis (“citizen”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬈 (saēte, “he lies, rests”), Sanskrit शये (śáye, “he lies”)).

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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.