Owndom

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition of belonging to a particular person or group as their possession
2. Ownership of something, or the state of holding property as one's own
3. The status of having something as one's rightful possession or property

Etymology: "Owndom" is a textbook case of a calque: English built a word by copying the parts of a German word rather than borrowing the word itself. German "Eigentum", meaning property, is made from "eigen" ("own") and "-tum", a suffix that forms nouns of state or condition. English took the same pattern and combined its own word "own" with the suffix "-dom", which appears in familiar words like "kingdom" and "freedom" and carries a similar sense of condition or domain. The result says in English exactly what the German says: the state of owning, or the realm of what one owns. The word is closely related to Dutch "eigendom" and West Frisian "eigendom", which were formed the same way from the same roots. Its meaning is narrow and legal in tone, referring to rightful possession rather than mere holding, so the word sits between "ownership" and "property" in feel.