janitor

[jan-i-ter]

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

/ 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
• underjanitor noun
• janitress noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of janitor¹

First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin jānitor “doorkeeper,” equivalent to jāni- (combining form of jānus “doorway, covered passage”) + -tor -tor

Word History and Origins

Origin of janitor¹

C17: from Latin: doorkeeper, from jānua door, entrance, from jānus covered way (compare _Janus ¹ ); related to Latin īre to go

Example Sentences

Mulroney grew up in the U.K., the daughter of a factory worker and a janitor.

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“What would bring him to that point. I thought, ‘What if he was a janitor when he was younger, and someone noticed and trained him?’

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ICE agents I’ve spoken with say they have arrested or detained office workers, janitors, dishwashers, gardeners, and day laborers and raided Home Depots.

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Some professions received carve-outs, including doctors, accountants, real estate agents and hairdressers; while others such as truckers, commercial janitors and physical therapists must abide by the tighter classification rules.

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He got the janitor job in the mid-1970s, and a decade later he and his wife experimented in their kitchen to create the new snack.

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Related Words

• attendant 
• custodian 
• sitter 
• superintendent