Hangars

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Large, roofed structures utilized for sheltering and servicing aircraft
2. Structures designed to house and protect airplanes or other flying machines from weather and damage
3. Large enclosed spaces where aircraft are kept and maintained away from outdoor elements

Etymology: "Hangars" is the plural of "hangar", a word that began as a humble enclosure. In Old Frankish, a Germanic language spoken in what is now northern France and Belgium, the elements were "haim", meaning home, village or hamlet, and "gard", meaning yard. Combined, they formed something like a fence around a cluster of houses. That sense passed into Old French as "hangart" and then into Middle French as an enclosure near a house, before French speakers applied it to a shed. English borrowed the word from French, where it had already come to mean a shed or shelter. The Old High German cousin "heimgart" once meant a forum or gathering place, so the same pair of roots produced both a meeting ground and, eventually, a building for aircraft. The "home" and "yard" in the original compound still show through the word's history, even though the modern structure is built for machines rather than households.

Synonyms: shelters, garages, storage units