penthouse

[pent-hous]

noun

plural

penthouses 

1. an apartment or dwelling on the roof of a building, usually set back from the outer walls.

2. any specially designed apartment on an upper floor, especially the top floor, of a building.

3. a structure on a roof for housing elevator machinery, a water tank, etc.

4. Also called pentice. Also called pent. a shed with a sloping roof, or a sloping roof, projecting from a wall or the side of a building, as to shelter a door.

5. any rooflike shelter or overhanging part.

6. shed roof.

7. Court Tennis.,  a corridor having a slanted roof and projecting from three walls of the court.

penthouse

/ ˈpɛntˌhaʊs /

noun

1. a flat or maisonette built onto the top floor or roof of a block of flats

2. a construction on the roof of a building, esp one used to house machinery

3. a shed built against a building, esp one that has a sloping roof

4. real tennis the roofed corridor that runs along three sides of the court

Other Word Forms

• penthouselike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of penthouse¹

First recorded in 1520–30; alteration (by folk etymology) of Middle English pentis, from Old French apentiz, equivalent to apent, past participle of apendre “to hang against” + -iz ( French -is ), from unattested Vulgar Latin -ātīcium, noun use of neuter of unattested -ātīcius, equivalent to Latin -āt(us) past participle suffix + -īcius adjective suffix; appendant, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of penthouse¹

C14 pentis (later penthouse, by folk etymology), from Old French apentis, from Late Latin appendicium appendage, from Latin appendere to hang from; see _appendix

Example Sentences

Corcoran, 76, originally put the palatial penthouse on the market in May, with reports later revealing that she had secured a buyer for the property within just one day of listing it.

Read more on MarketWatch

“So you have venture investors talking about AI and then $50 million penthouses all in the same episode. We’ll see if people like it. I don’t know.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Looking back, he can’t believe he realized his dream of moving to Los Angeles from San Francisco in 2018 and eventually renting a Midcentury Modern penthouse steps from the Sunset Strip.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He owned an apartment building in Sherman Oaks and lived in his “penthouse,” which consisted of entering a screen door that was never locked and seeing a small room on the top floor.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He was previously a general manager at 375 Kensington High Street - a luxury residential estate in west London with apartments and penthouses.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• co-op 
• condo 
• condominium 
• cooperative 
• flat 
• suite