jan·i·tor
janitor
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- pronunciation:
- jae
nih
tr
- features:
- Word History, Word Explorer
There were
janitors in ancient Rome, but the word "janitor" meant something different then. It meant "doorkeeper." When it entered the English language in the 1500s, "janitor" still meant "doorkeeper.". Its meaning changed over the next 200 years, and by the 1700s was a word for the caretaker of a building.