janitor

American  

[jan-i-ter] / ˈdʒæn ɪ tər /

noun

1. a person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to clean the public areas, remove garbage, and do minor repairs; caretaker.

2. Archaic. a doorkeeper or porter.

---

verb (used without object)

1. to be employed as a janitor.

janitor British  

/ ˌdʒænɪˈtɔːrɪəl, ˈdʒænɪtə /

noun

1. the caretaker of a building, esp a school

2. 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

• janitorial adjective
• janitress noun
• underjanitor noun

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:

• custodian vs. janitor

Example Sentences

The janitor held out a green bottle to Jonah.

From Literature

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

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

“Imogene just said he did. Nobody buried the snake. The janitor threw it in the trash masher. I saw him.”

From Literature

We should be able to leave the movie and not feel like we missed anything if we didn’t stay until the janitors started to sweep.

From Salon

Related Words

• attendant
• custodian
• sitter
• superintendent