Commons

How to spell commons

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce commons

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does commons mean?

1. nounThe lower house of certain parliaments, especially the House of Commons in the United Kingdom and Canada, whose members are elected.
2. nounLand or resources held or used jointly by a community rather than owned privately.
3. nounA shared dining hall or communal building, especially at a college or university.

Commons in a sentence

• The bill passed the commons before going to the upper house.

• Villagers once grazed their sheep on the commons near the river.

• Students grabbed lunch at the commons between lectures.

• Members of the commons debated the budget for three days.

• The town protects the commons as open space for everyone.

• The dormitory was a short walk from the commons.

Where does commons come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin communis, which meant 'shared, public, belonging to everyone alike', built from com- 'together' and an old root related to munis 'bound by duty or service'. It passed into English through Old French comun during the medieval period, where 'common' first described things held jointly rather than privately. From the 1300s the plural 'commons' came to mean the ordinary people of a realm as distinct from the nobility, and from that grew the name of the lower house of the English Parliament, the House of Commons. The same sense of shared property gave us 'the commons' for land held in common by a village. Because the word is simply 'common' with a plural -s, the spelling trap is mainly remembering the double m at the centre, inherited straight from communis.

How the word is built

• common (from Latin communis: shared, belonging to all)
• -s (plural)