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

I also know that sometimes a packet of gravy is exactly what a weeknight cottage pie or a skillet full of meatballs needs.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026

But alone in her candlelit cottage, she’s visibly weary of her joyless routine.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Located about 30 minutes outside of Nashville, the retreat offers a fishing lake, one-bedroom cottage, and large barn for storage or entertaining.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 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

Maybe they weren’t much higher than a cottage.

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was receiving up to £2,000 per month for sub-letting three cottages at his former home at Royal Lodge, when he didn't have to pay any rent himself, according to the public spending watchdog.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Tourism bosses have warned owners of holiday cottages will be forced to sell amid the government's plans to tax tourist rentals as second homes rather than as a businesses, the Daily Telegraph reports.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 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

But there is another, lesser-known retreat tucked away along the state’s shoreline—one where Victorian-era cottages dot tree-lined streets, and a summer calendar is packed with activities for adults and children.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Harry was waiting to see whether she would turn into any of the cottages she was passing, but he knew instinctively that she would not.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

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Related Words

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

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