cottage

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cottage^¹

/ˈkɒt.ɪd͡ʒ/ UK
/ˈkɑt.ɪd͡ʒ/
[ˈkɑɾ.ɪd͡ʒ]
/ˈkɑt.əd͡ʒ/
[ˈkɑɾ.əd͡ʒ]

Rhymes with -ɒtɪdʒ

Where it comes from

Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman cotage and Medieval Latin cotagium, from Old Northern French cot, cote (“cottage, hut”) + -age (“surrounding property”), from Old Norse kot, from Proto-Germanic *kutą, *kuta- (“shed”), probably of non-Indo-European origin, possibly borrowed from Proto-Finno-Ugric/Proto-Uralic *kota (“hut, tent”), probably akin to Proto-Iranian *kátah (“house; roof”). However, also compare Dutch and English hut.

Cognates

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Koate (“cottage, hut, small house”), Dutch kot (“ramshackle housing”), German Kate, Kote (“cot, cottage, hut”), Norwegian Bokmål kote (“cot, cottage, hut”), Norwegian Nynorsk kot, kott (“small house; small room”), Norwegian Nynorsk kote, kotto, kåte (“hut”), Swedish kåta (“cot, cottage, hut”), Ainu コタン (kotan, “village; town; island; land; country; place”), Akkala Sami куэһть (kueht’, “hut, tent”), Brahui کڈی (kuḍḍī / kuḍī, “hut, small house; wife”), Erzya кудо (kudo, “house”), Estonian koda (“building, house”), Finnish kota (“house, hut”), Hungarian ház (“house”), Kildin Sami куэдтҍ (kuedt’, “hut”), Komi-Permyak керку (kerku, “house, hut”) Komi-Zyrian керка (kerka, “house; family”), Livonian kuodā (“house”), Malayalam കുടി (kuṭi, “dwelling, house; hut; clan”), Moksha куд (kud, “house”), Mongolian хот (xot), ᠬᠣᠲᠠ (qota, “city, town”), Northern Sami goahti (“hut, tent; den, lair”), Southern Sami gåetie (“house; range; tent”), Tamil குடி (kuṭi, “ryot; tenants; citizens; family, household; descent, lineage; caste, race; house, mansion; village”), Udmurt корка (korka, “house, hut”), Ume Sami gåhtie (“tent”), Votic kõta (“house”); also Abkhaz ақыҭа (akəta, “village; community”), Armenian քաղաք (kʻaġakʻ, “city, town”), Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian ха́та (xáta, “house, hut”), Czech and Polish chata (“hut”), Gurani کەَ (ka, “house”), Pashto کلی (kəlay, “village”), Persian کده (kade, “house; village”), Northern Kurdish kedî (“domestic”), Yaghnobi кат (kat, “house”).

Old Northern French cote is probably from Old Norse kot (“hut”), cognate of Old English cot of same Proto-Germanic origin.

Slang sense “public toilet” from 19th century, due to resemblance.

noun cottages

A small house. So when four years were wholly finished, / She threw her royal robes away. / “Make me a cottage in the vale,” she said, / “Where I may mourn and pray.
Similar: cot, hut
A seasonal home of any size or stature, a recreational home or a home in a remote location. Most cottages in the area were larger and more elaborate than my home.
UK, archaic, slang A public lavatory.
Similar: bathroom, latrine, necessarium, toilet, toilet room, urinal, water closet, WC, cloaca, closet, jacques, kocay
Polari A meeting place for homosexual men.
Similar: gingerbread office, tea room, tearoom, teahouse, tea house

verb cottages · cottaging · cottaged

To stay at a seasonal home, to go cottaging.
Polari, intransitive, of men To have homosexual sex in a public lavatory; to practice cottaging.

Cottage^²

proper noun

A township in Saline County, Illinois.
An unincorporated community in Macon County, Missouri, United States.
A village in Rivière du Rempart District, Mauritius.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: bungalow, cabin, lodge, villa, chalet, shack, house, mansion, pavilion, resort, residence, homemade, artisan, handicraft, home, flag

Translations

Every language

noun a small house; a cot; a hut

Español	chalet, chalé
한국어	시골집 sigoljip, 오두막 odumak, 오두막집 odumakjip, 코티지 kotiji, 별장 byeoljang
日本語	コテージ kotēji, 小屋 koya
中文	村舍 cūnshè, 小屋 xiǎowū
हिन्दी	कुटिया kuṭiyā, झोपड़ी jhopṛī
Português	chalé
Français	cottage
Deutsch	Cottage, Häuschen, Kotten
Italiano	casolare, rustico
Русский	хи́жина xížina, котте́дж chalet, до́мик dómik, изба́ izbá, да́ча dáča
العربية	كُوخ kūḵ, مُنَيْزِل munayzil, عُشَّة ʕušša

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MLA

"cottage." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cottage. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cottage. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cottage

Chicago

"cottage." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cottage.

BibTeX

@misc{cottage_2026,
  title = {cottage},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cottage},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}