houseless

English

Etymology

From Middle English housles, from Old English *hūslēas, from Proto-West Germanic *hūslaus, from Proto-Germanic *hūsalausaz, equivalent to house +‎ -less. Cognate with West Frisian húsleas (“houseless”), Dutch huisloos (“houseless”), German hauslos (“houseless”), Danish husløs (“houseless”), Swedish huslös (“houseless”), Icelandic húslaus (“houseless”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊsləs/

Adjective

houseless (comparative more houseless, superlative most houseless)

1. lacking or in need of a house or home

   "He said that he was houseless but not homeless because he went to school in that community, was registered to vote there, and had been living in the teepee for seventeen years. He said that teepee was his home."

2. homeless but not wanting for local ties, affiliations or roots in a particular community.
   • 2023 May 14, Voices of Truth, A Part Of the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network, 7:15 from the start, in The Value Of Our Elders - A Visit With Lena Suzuki‎^[1], via YouTube, archived from the original on 19 May 2023‎^[2]:

     What I'm realizing is that a lot of our fishermens that are here that are, you know, houseless or whatever it is, they don't realize that they are living in the footsteps of their kupuna. Because the Western society had made them look like: you're houseless, you're this, you're that, but actually they're living the culture more than the next person. […] Our houseless people- if the end of the world comes, I'm going to go with our houseless people.

Derived terms

• houselessness

Translations

lacking a residence in a building

• Greek:

  Ancient: ἄνοικος (ánoikos)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: husløs (no)

  Nynorsk: huslaus (no)