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:
Charlie Leshko, a retired maintenance man and janitor who lives in a seniors residence in Hazleton, was intrigued by the cash offer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
The son of parents who fled Sierra Leone's civil war in the 1990s, Tiafoe used to sleep on the floor at a plush Maryland tennis centre where his father was a janitor.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026
Charley finds direction when a neighborhood janitor invites him into a pickup game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Once freed from slavery, Washington toiled in coal mines, worked as a janitor in exchange for formal education and became a great American orator and leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
From Salon ● Oct. 27, 2025
Luckily, in the winter of 1957, Roberto found a part-time job working year-round as a janitor at Main Street Elementary School in Santa Maria, California.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
Those who lost their jobs worked across the U.S. in construction, at hotels and as janitors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
In one videotaped speech during a high school student government campaign, he complains of being told to pick up his trash, saying that should be the work of paid janitors.
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2026
A museum guard stood outside the bathroom, and janitors cleaned the piece every 15 minutes or so.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 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
Commons was deserted except for a couple of haggard old janitors and the red-wigged lady who sat at the switchboard and knitted all weekend, paying no attention to the incoming calls.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
