Levitt

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surname borne by people such as William Levitt, the American builder who developed the mass-produced suburban Levittown communities
2. The family name of William Levitt, an American developer known for creating large planned suburban housing developments after the Second World War
3. A proper name associated with William Levitt, the American builder whose standardized suburban housing developments shaped postwar American suburbs

Etymology: "Levitt" is best known as a surname, and its most famous bearer gave his name to a way of building houses. William Levitt, an American builder, applied assembly-line methods to home construction after the Second World War. Crews moved from plot to plot, completing each stage across hundreds of identical houses. The suburban developments he built on Long Island became known as Levittown, and the name came to stand for mass-produced suburbia. The surname itself most likely derives from "Levi", the Hebrew personal name linked to the tribe of Levi, though the exact route into English is less certain.