longhouse
longhouse Lexical Profile
longhouse Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A long, narrow, single-room communal dwelling constructed of timber, bark, or bamboo, traditionally built and inhabited by multiple families among various peoples, including Indigenous peoples of North America (such as the Haudenosaunee and Pacific Northwest tribes), prehistoric and Viking-Age Europeans, and Indigenous groups in Borneo and Southeast Asia.
"Several extended families lived together inside the cedar-plank longhouse during the winter months."
British A historical type of rectangular rural dwelling found in parts of Britain (especially Dartmoor, Wales, and Scotland) in which the human living quarters and the cattle shelter were housed under the same roof at opposite ends of a central passage.
"The medieval Dartmoor longhouse preserved original granite stalls where livestock once sheltered beside the family hearth."
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in English as a compound of 'long' and 'house', continuing an older Germanic architectural tradition (compare Old Norse 'langhús') and later applied by European colonists to the communal dwellings of Indigenous peoples in North America and Southeast Asia.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.