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
Compare meaning
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:
Another oversight battle concerns the rights of detainees who work at a facility, perhaps as a janitor, for $1 per day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Since its international release, the Galashiels janitor said hundreds of sufferers and supporters from around the world have contacted him.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
“I’m crying,” said Nidia Perez, a grandmother and school janitor who caught the game in a plaza in Caracas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
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
When the janitor saw that they were both in tears, he took pity on them and ushered them inside.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
It would mean 60,000+ district workers — teachers, counselors, nurses, bus drivers, janitors and cafeteria workers — would walk out, crippling school operations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 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
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 ● Jan. 11, 2026
Today I estimate that more than 30,000 Microsoft employees, from secretaries to janitors, have become millionaires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
Some now worked downtown, messengers, janitors, things like that.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
