janitor
Americannoun
-
a person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to clean the public areas, remove garbage, and do minor repairs; caretaker.
-
Archaic. a doorkeeper or porter.
verb (used without object)
noun
-
the caretaker of a building, esp a school
-
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
Compare meaning
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.
The long-incarcerated Janitor claims to have crucial information about the new murder, but he’ll only share it with his old nemeses.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025
Janitor Gerardo Mixcoatl heard the cry as he was preparing to sweep and refill the toilet paper in a men’s room stall at Union Station.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2022
The Hudson River Museum show runs somewhat chronologically; one of the earliest pieces in the exhibition is Palmer Hayden’s “The Janitor Who Paints,” from around 1930.
From New York Times • Oct. 19, 2021
The residents of Lucky House light incense for the God of the Soil and the Ground twice a day, and the Janitor often tends to this task.
From The Guardian • Aug. 28, 2017
"Principal, Assistant and Janitor," laughed Pearl, "that gives a person some scope—to be sure."
From Purple Springs by McClung, Nellie L.
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.
