Rowhouse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A residential building arranged in a linear fashion where each unit shares side walls with its neighbors, primarily located in urban environments
2. A specific architectural style comprising a series of attached homes that are situated in a continuous line and share side walls with adjacent properties
3. A type of urban dwelling consisting of multiple homes connected in a line, where each residence has shared walls with those on either side

Etymology: "Rowhouse" is about as transparent as compounds get: "row" (a line of things set side by side) joined to "house." The word names the building type rather than any single dwelling, describing homes built in an unbroken line where each one shares a side wall with its neighbours. The shared walls are what distinguish it from a detached house or a freestanding villa, and that architectural fact is the whole logic of the term. The "row" here is the old sense of a line or tier, the same root that gives "row" in the sense of an orderly series, as in a row of seats or a row of trees. Pairing it with "house" produced a noun for a structure defined by its place in a sequence rather than by its own separate footprint.

Synonyms: townhouse, terraced house