janitor
Americannoun
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janitors
plural
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a person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to clean the public areas, remove garbage, and do minor repairs; caretaker.
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Archaic. a doorkeeper or porter.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the caretaker of a building, esp a school
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a person employed to clean and maintain a building, esp the public areas in a block of flats or office building; porter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of janitor
First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin jānitor “doorkeeper,” equivalent to jāni- (combining form of jānus “doorway, covered passage”) + -tor -tor
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How does janitor compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A janitor is someone whose job is cleaning and maintaining a building. If your school always looks clean and orderly, be sure to thank the janitor. Another name for a janitor is a custodian, or in Britain, a caretaker. This job involves cleaning and caring for a school, hospital, apartment building, or workplace. Janitors may be responsible for cleaning bathrooms, hallways, and other common areas. Sometimes janitors will also sweep sidewalks, shovel snow, or do other outdoor maintenance. In the 16th century, a janitor was a "doorkeeper," from the Latin ianitor, "doorkeeper or porter," and the root ianua, "door."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Bob Trebilcock relates that, near the peak of the tech bubble, the janitor at his church bragged about his day-trading profits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
The company hires people for roles like janitor, maintenance worker and in other trades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
“What would bring him to that point. I thought, ‘What if he was a janitor when he was younger, and someone noticed and trained him?’
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2025
The free-form jazz in the film makes the atmosphere almost farcical, a choice that feels even more strange when Bong introduces the apartment complex’s janitor, who has a taste for dog meat.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2025
But as he was crossing toward Mr. Crane’s house, the janitor waved to him from the portico that connected the main school building and the cafeteria.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
We should be able to leave the movie and not feel like we missed anything if we didn’t stay until the janitors started to sweep.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2026
Today I estimate that more than 30,000 Microsoft employees, from secretaries to janitors, have become millionaires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
Marty comes of age in the Hill Valley of 1985, where vandals have shellacked the high school with so much graffiti that the janitors seem to have given up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
Her parents, both Mexican immigrants who work night shifts as janitors, watch Kevin while Orea is on campus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2025
The janitors, the laborers, the cafeteria workers themselves did not take lunch in the main cafeteria.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
