pied-à-terre
Americannoun
-
pieds-à-terre
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pied-à-terre
1820–30; < French: literally, foot on ground
Explanation
When your friend talks about his pied-a-terre in the city, it's just his fancy way of mentioning the apartment he keeps there to stay in from time to time. This borrowing from French, literally "foot on ground," designates a small second home. Dictionaries are in general content to stop their explanation of the origins of pied-a-terre by simply translating it, as if this were sufficient to explain how it inherited this meaning. On the other hand, it would hardly be a home if you didn't have your foot on the ground there some time.
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:
He said he does not have “any contingency plans” for his New York City residence and is betting that this lawsuit will void his pied-à-terre tax bill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
One lawsuit alleges the Mamdani administration botched the rollout of the pied-à-terre tax, while city lawyers argue they followed the law.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
New York City defended its new pied-à-terre tax rollout in a legal filing while acknowledging the launch created confusion for some property owners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Beverly Solo, a New York City resident of 44 years - who wore a shirt saying "Tax The Rich" - said the pied-à-terre measure could raise important money for city services.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The only thing he didn't know was that it was to be used for anything except an ordinary pied-à-terre.
From Christopher and Columbus by Elizabeth
Mastro, who served as a deputy mayor under former Mayor Eric Adams, said that in its attempt to identify the luxury pieds-à-terre in the city, the Department of Finance cast too wide a net.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
As noted by the Wall Street Journal, the tax would “target wealthy individuals who own these pieds-à-terre but primarily live outside the city” and is aimed at closing the city’s $12 billion annual budget gap.
From MarketWatch ● May 1, 2026
It would specifically target wealthy individuals who own these pieds-à-terre but primarily live outside the city.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Some of Dr. Zhang’s patients, envisioning further babies and more in vitro fertilization procedures and births in New York, wind up buying pieds-à-terre on West 57th Street, he told me.
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2017
A proposal from the Fiscal Policy Institute would impose a graduated tax on pieds-à-terre worth $5 million or more.
From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2015
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
