Meanings
plural dormitories
- A room containing a number of beds (and often some other furniture and/or utilities) for sleeping, often applied to student and backpacker accommodation of this kind.
She will be much more likely to meet his wishes after a residence at the castle, than an imprisonment on short commons in her dormitory in Welbeck Street; for in one case she only learnt how much she could endure, in the other she will find how much she can enjoy.
1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 150–1511 more example
The foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova was responding to a report last week about an item in the 2024 US air force budget for building a dormitory at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk for personnel on a “potential surety mission” – military jargon for nuclear safety and security.
2023 September 5, Julian Borger, Andrew Roth, “Return of US nuclear weapons to UK would be an escalation, says Russia”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2024Synonyms: dorm, dormitorium, dorter
- A building or part of a building which houses students, soldiers, monks etc. who sleep there and use communal further facilities.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA room containing a number of beds (and often some other furniture and/or utilities) for sleeping, often applied to student and backpacker accommodation of this kind.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna college or university building containing living quarters for students
nouna large sleeping room containing several beds
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindormītōrium“a sleeping-room”
- Middle Englishdormitory
- Englishdormitory
From Middle English dormitory, dormytory, dormytorye, borrowed from Latin dormītōrium (“a sleeping-room”), from dormiō (“to sleep”). Doublet of dormitorium and dorter.
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مَهْجَع
- مَهْجَع (mahjaʕ)building or part thereof
Bulgarian о́бща спа́лня, общежи́тие
- о́бща спа́лня (óbšta spálnja)room for sleeping
- общежи́тие (obštežítie)building or part thereof
Catalan dormitori
- dormitoriroom for sleeping
Chinese Mandarin 寢室 /寝室, 宿舍
- 寢室 /寝室 (qǐnshì)room for sleeping
- 宿舍 (sùshè)room for sleeping
- 宿舍 (sùshè)building or part thereof
- 寄宿舍 (jìsùshè)building or part thereof
Czech noclehárna, noclehárna
- noclehárnaroom for sleeping
- noclehárnabuilding or part thereof
- internátbuilding or part thereof
- kolejbuilding or part thereof
Danish sovesal, internat
- sovesalroom for sleeping
- internatbuilding or part thereof
Dutch slaapzaal, slaapcel
- slaapzaalroom for sleeping
- slaapcelroom for sleeping
- internaatbuilding or part thereof
- studentenhuisbuilding or part thereof
Esperanto dormejo, amasloĝejo
- dormejoroom for sleeping
- amasloĝejoroom for sleeping
- dormejobuilding or part thereof
- studenta loĝejobuilding or part thereof
Estonian ühikas, ühiselamu
- ühikasroom for sleeping
- ühiselamuroom for sleeping
- ühikasbuilding or part thereof
- ühiselamubuilding or part thereof
- internaatbuilding or part thereof
Finnish makuusali, makuuhuone
- makuusaliroom for sleeping
- makuuhuoneroom for sleeping
- asuntolabuilding or part thereof
French dortoir, cellule
- dortoirroom for sleeping
- celluleroom for sleeping
- résidencebuilding or part thereof
- foyerbuilding or part thereof
- cité universitairebuilding or part thereof
German Schlafsaal, Dormitorium
- Schlafsaalroom for sleeping
- Dormitoriumroom for sleeping
- Studentenwohnheimbuilding or part thereof
- Studentenheimbuilding or part thereof
- Wohnheimbuilding or part thereof
- Heimbuilding or part thereof
- Dormitoriumbuilding or part thereof
Greek υπνοθάλαμος, υπνωτήριο
- υπνοθάλαμος (ypnothálamos)room for sleeping
- υπνωτήριο (ypnotírio)room for sleeping
- υπνοδωμάτιο (ypnodomátio)room for sleeping
- υπνωτήριο (ypnotírio)building or part thereof
- κοιτώνας (koitónas)building or part thereof
Hebrew חדר שינה, מעונות
- חדר שינה (khadár shená)room for sleeping
- מעונות (me'onot)building or part thereof
Hungarian hálóterem, szálló
- hálóteremroom for sleeping
- szállóbuilding or part thereof
- diákszállóbuilding or part thereof
- nővérszállóbuilding or part thereof
- munkásszállóbuilding or part thereof
- diákotthonbuilding or part thereof
- kollégiumbuilding or part thereof
Icelandic svefnsalur, heimavist
- svefnsalurroom for sleeping
- heimavistroom for sleeping
- kojuherbergiroom for sleeping
- heimavistbuilding or part thereof
Indonesian asrama
- asramabuilding or part thereof
Irish suanlios, dórtúr
- suanliosroom for sleeping
- dórtúrroom for sleeping
Italian camerata, residenza universitaria
- camerataroom for sleeping
- residenza universitariabuilding or part thereof
- studentatobuilding or part thereof
- casa dello studentebuilding or part thereof
- dormitoriobuilding or part thereof
Japanese 寝室, 寮
- 寝室 (shinshitsu)room for sleeping
- 寮 (ryō)building or part thereof
- 宿舎 (shukusha)building or part thereof
Korean 침실, 기숙사
- 침실 (chimsil)room for sleeping
- 기숙사 (gisuksa)building or part thereof
Latin dormitorium, dormitorium
- dormitoriumroom for sleeping
- dormitoriumbuilding or part thereof
Latvian internāts, kopmītne
- internātsbuilding or part thereof
- kopmītnebuilding or part thereof
Lithuanian bendrabutis
- bendrabutisbuilding or part thereof
Malay asrama, asrama
- asramaroom for sleeping
- asramabuilding or part thereof
Māori wharemoe
- wharemoebuilding or part thereof
Norwegian Bokmål internat, studenthjem
- internatbuilding or part thereof
- studenthjembuilding or part thereof
Polish akademik, akademik
- akademikroom for sleeping
- akademikbuilding or part thereof
- dormitoriumbuilding or part thereof
- internatbuilding or part thereof
Portuguese dormitório, dormitório
- dormitórioroom for sleeping
- dormitóriobuilding or part thereof
Romanian dormitor, cămin
- dormitorroom for sleeping
- căminbuilding or part thereof
Russian о́бщая спа́льня, дортуа́р
- о́бщая спа́льня (óbščaja spálʹnja)room for sleeping
- дортуа́р (dortuár)room for sleeping
- спа́льня (spálʹnja)room for sleeping
- общежи́тие (obščežítije)building or part thereof
- обща́га f ( (obščága)building or part thereof
Scottish Gaelic suain-lann, seòmar-cadail
- suain-lannroom for sleeping
- seòmar-cadailroom for sleeping
Slovak internát, nocľaháreň
- internátbuilding or part thereof
- nocľaháreňbuilding or part thereof
Spanish dormitorio, residencia estudiantil
- dormitorioroom for sleeping
- residencia estudiantilbuilding or part thereof
- dormitoriobuilding or part thereof
- apartamento estudiantinobuilding or part thereof
- vivienda universitariabuilding or part thereof
- casalicio colegialbuilding or part thereof
- casa escolarbuilding or part thereof
Swahili bweni
- bweniroom for sleeping
Swedish sovsal, studenthem
- sovsalroom for sleeping
- studenthembuilding or part thereof
Tamil ஹாஸ்டல், விடுதி
- ஹாஸ்டல் (hāsṭal)room for sleeping
- விடுதி (viṭuti)room for sleeping
Thai หอพัก
- หอพัก (hɔ̌ɔ-pák)building or part thereof
Turkish yatakhane, yurt
- yatakhaneroom for sleeping
- yurtroom for sleeping
- yatakhanebuilding or part thereof
- yurtbuilding or part thereof
Ukrainian почива́льня, гурто́житок
- почива́льня (počyválʹnja)room for sleeping
- гурто́житок (hurtóžytok)building or part thereof
Vietnamese phòng ngủ, kí túc xá
- phòng ngủroom for sleeping
- kí túc xábuilding or part thereof
Welsh noswylfa
- noswylfaroom for sleeping
Yiddish אינטערנאַט
- אינטערנאַט (internat)building or part thereof
Cite this entry
dormitory. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dormitory
“dormitory.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dormitory. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dormitory,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dormitory.
Source: dormitory on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.