Fourplex

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A residential building consisting of four individual housing units, commonly arranged in a single structure with shared or separate entrances
2. A type of accommodation featuring four distinct, independent living spaces, often built as a single entity to serve multiple households
3. A structure that contains four separate living units, each providing its own accommodations, commonly designed for multiple families or tenants within one building

Etymology: "Fourplex" is built from "four" and "-plex," a combining element that appears in several English words for multiplied parts or units. The "-plex" element comes from Latin "-plex," meaning "-fold," as in "duplex" (two-fold) and "triplex" (three-fold). In American English, a fourplex is a single residential building divided into four separate dwelling units, usually one per floor or arranged around a shared entrance. The pattern is a practical one. Builders and planners used "duplex" for two-unit buildings long before "fourplex" appeared, and the same logic extends the series upward to a count of four. The result is a word whose meaning is almost entirely carried by its parts: four units, housed in one structure.

Synonyms: quadruplex, four-unit dwelling, four-family house