penthouse

[pent-hous]

noun

plural

penthouses 

1. an apartment or dwelling on the roof of a building, usually set back from the outer walls.

2. any specially designed apartment on an upper floor, especially the top floor, of a building.

3. a structure on a roof for housing elevator machinery, a water tank, etc.

4. Also called pentice. Also called pent. a shed with a sloping roof, or a sloping roof, projecting from a wall or the side of a building, as to shelter a door.

5. any rooflike shelter or overhanging part.

6. shed roof.

7. Court Tennis.,  a corridor having a slanted roof and projecting from three walls of the court.

penthouse

/ ˈpɛntˌhaʊs /

noun

1. a flat or maisonette built onto the top floor or roof of a block of flats

2. a construction on the roof of a building, esp one used to house machinery

3. a shed built against a building, esp one that has a sloping roof

4. real tennis the roofed corridor that runs along three sides of the court

Other Word Forms

• penthouselike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of penthouse¹

First recorded in 1520–30; alteration (by folk etymology) of Middle English pentis, from Old French apentiz, equivalent to apent, past participle of apendre “to hang against” + -iz ( French -is ), from unattested Vulgar Latin -ātīcium, noun use of neuter of unattested -ātīcius, equivalent to Latin -āt(us) past participle suffix + -īcius adjective suffix; appendant, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of penthouse¹

C14 pentis (later penthouse, by folk etymology), from Old French apentis, from Late Latin appendicium appendage, from Latin appendere to hang from; see _appendix

Example Sentences

According to the listing, the home is a “one-of-a-kind trophy penthouse” that has been “masterfully reimagined.”

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He recently put his New York City penthouse back on the market for $23 million after struggling to unload it since moving to Florida in 2018.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Instead, the outrage among the penthouse set appears to have backfired, motivating people who have to work for their rent money to spend weekends knocking on doors and registering voters.

Read more on Salon

Corcoran, 76, originally put the palatial penthouse on the market in May, with reports later revealing that she had secured a buyer for the property within just one day of listing it.

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“So you have venture investors talking about AI and then $50 million penthouses all in the same episode. We’ll see if people like it. I don’t know.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• co-op 
• condo 
• condominium 
• cooperative 
• flat 
• suite