Landlord

How to spell landlord

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce landlord

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does landlord mean?

1. nounA person who owns property, such as a house or flat, and rents it out to tenants.
2. nounThe person who runs a pub or inn, serving drinks and often providing rooms.

Landlord in a sentence

• The landlord refused to return the security deposit after the inspection.

• The landlord pulled a fresh pint and rang the bell for last orders.

• Our landlord agreed to fix the leaking radiator before winter.

• The village landlord kept the fire lit for travellers staying overnight.

Where does landlord come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Landlord is a transparent compound of two very old English words, 'land' and 'lord'. The first element, 'land', has meant ground or estate since Old English and is shared across the Germanic languages. The second, 'lord', traces back to the Old English hlaford, which originally meant 'loaf keeper' or 'bread guardian', built from hlaf (loaf) and weard (keeper); the head of a household was literally the one who provided bread to his dependants. By the late medieval period the two words had fused, and 'landlord' came to describe the master of an estate who let land or dwellings to tenants in return for rent. The same logic later extended to the keeper of an inn or public house, who provided lodging and drink. Because both halves are familiar everyday words, the spelling is straightforward, with no silent letters or doubled consonants to trip up the writer.

How the word is built

• land (ground, estate)
• lord (master, from Old English hlaford)