Condos

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of residential property divided into individual units owned separately, typically with shared common areas and amenities
2. Referring to a multi-family housing arrangement where individual units are owned while communal facilities are maintained collectively
3. A form of housing that blends ownership of a distinct living space with joint responsibility for shared spaces like halls, pools, or gardens

Etymology: Condos is the plural of condo, and condo is a shortening of condominium. The longer word is the one carrying the history: it combines the Latin prefix "con-", meaning "together", with "dominium", meaning "ownership" or "lordship", from "dominus", "master" or "lord". Put together, the word describes joint ownership, which is exactly the arrangement the clipped form still names. The shortened form is simply the more convenient version of that longer word. Speakers and writers clipped "condominium" to "condo" for everyday use, and the plural "condos" follows the ordinary English pattern of adding "-s" to a noun.

Synonyms: apartments, flats