cottage

American  

[kot-ij] / ˈkɒt ɪdʒ /

noun

• cottages
  plural

1. a small house, usually of only one story.

2. a small, modest house at a lake, mountain resort, etc., owned or rented as a vacation home.

3. one of a group of small, separate houses, as for patients at a hospital, guests at a hotel, or students at a boarding school.

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cottage British  

/ ˈkɒtɪdʒ /

noun

1. a small simple house, esp in a rural area

2. a small house in the country or at a resort, used for holiday purposes

3. one of several housing units, as at a hospital, for accommodating people in groups

4. slang a public lavatory

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cottaged
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cottages
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cottage

1350–1400; Middle English cotage. See cot ², -age; compare Medieval Latin cotagium, apparently < Anglo-French

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Explanation

A cottage is a small house, particularly a traditional or old-fashioned house, or one that is used seasonally. Your family might rent a cottage near the beach every summer. In the US, a cottage typically has only one story, while in Canada a house can be much larger and still be called a cottage. In the Middle Ages, a cottage was housing for farm workers — sometimes known as cottagers — and the word implied not just a home, but also a barn and land. The first US holiday cottages were built in the 1880s in Bar Harbor, Maine and are credited with introducing the word cottage to North America.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cottage cottages

A cottage industry of charities and consultancies have cropped up to help claimants navigate the benefits claim system, which can be both byzantine and, critics say, gamable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

The cottage has gas-powered convection heaters, but in an adjacent barn a stack of firewood will help to keep Olena warm in the event of power cuts.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

She set off after midnight from her village in central Ukraine to reach Kyiv before dawn and sell milk, sour cream, butter and cottage cheese from her own cows.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Today, a blue plaque on a cottage near the King's Arms pub marks the place where Hepburn lived between 1936 and 1939.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

We arrived at the cottage the following day.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

The auctioneers said the ruined property has intact walls to eaves level, as well as two ruined cottages, a smithy and old shop.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Built into the undulating terrain are brick homes, shingled cottages and a longstanding dive bar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

Seizing the opportunity to turn Scotland's notoriously unreliable summer weather into a positive, the couple have begun marketing their cottages as coolcation destinations.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

If you want to go luxe, you can eat or sleep at the Farmhouse Inn, a 6-acre property on River Road that includes 25 rooms and cottages, a pool and spa amid lushly landscaped grounds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

When astronauts from other countries came to train, new cottages housed them during their visits.

From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson

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Related Words

• bungalow
• cabin
• chalet
• home
• hut
• lean-to
• lodge
• ranch
• shack
• shanty

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