Menages

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Refers to more than one household, domestic establishment, or family unit
2. Describes multiple domestic households or the people living together under one roof
3. Indicates several separate family homes or domestic groups living together

Etymology: "Menages" is the plural of "menage," a word that English borrowed from French, where "ménage" meant a household, the people and property that make up a family's domestic life. In French the word descends from Latin "mansionaticum," a term tied to the running of a household, which points back to the same root as "mansion." The English noun "menage" kept the sense of a household as a unit, and the plural "menages" is simply the form used when speaking of more than one such household, as in the phrase "several menages." Because the singular and plural are spelled alike in many English contexts, readers may not notice the difference, but the plural form carries the same meaning, just multiplied across families.

Synonyms: households, families, domestic units, groups, clans

Antonyms: individuals, singles, loners, solitaires, outsiders