Standard Lemma guide

homelessness

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH OW1 M L AH0 S N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state of being homeless.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the state or condition of having no home (especially the state of living in the streets)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: condition, status

Narrower terms: vagrancy

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos Proto-Germanic *haimaz Proto-West Germanic *haim Old English hām Proto-Indo-European *lewh1- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Old English hāmlēas Middle English *homles English homeless Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English homelessness From homeless + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

39 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 無家可歸 /无家可归 (wújiākěguī) — state of being homeless
  • Chinese Mandarin: 露宿街頭 /露宿街头 (lùsù jiētóu) — state of being homeless
  • Danish: hjemløshed — state of being homeless
  • Esperanto: senhejmeco — state of being homeless
  • Finnish: kodittomuus — state of being homeless
  • Finnish: asunnottomuus — state of being homeless
  • French: itinérance — state of being homeless
  • French: sans-abrisme — state of being homeless
  • Georgian: უსახლკარობა (usaxlḳaroba) — state of being homeless
  • Georgian: უბინაობა (ubinaoba) — state of being homeless
  • Georgian: უპატრონობა (uṗaṭronoba) — state of being homeless
  • German: Obdachlosigkeit — state of being homeless
  • German: Wohnungslosigkeit — state of being homeless
  • German: Hauslosigkeit — state of being homeless
  • German: Heimatlosigkeit — state of being homeless
  • Greek: αστεγία (astegía) — state of being homeless
  • Hungarian: hajléktalanság — state of being homeless
  • Ido: senhemeso — state of being homeless
  • Japanese: ホームレス (hōmuresu) — state of being homeless
  • Korean: 홈리스니스 (homniseuniseu) — state of being homeless
  • Luxembourgish: Wunnengslosegkeet — state of being homeless
  • Macedonian: бездомништво (bezdomništvo) — state of being homeless
  • Malay: tunawisma — state of being homeless
  • Māori: kāingakoretanga — state of being homeless
  • Norwegian Bokmål: heimløshet — state of being homeless
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hjemløshet — state of being homeless
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bostedsløshet — state of being homeless
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: heimløyse — state of being homeless
  • Polish: bezdomność — state of being homeless
  • Portuguese: desabrigo — state of being homeless
  • Russian: бездо́мность (bezdómnostʹ) — state of being homeless
  • Spanish: sinhogarismo — state of being homeless
  • Spanish: indigencia — state of being homeless
  • Spanish: sintechismo — state of being homeless
  • Spanish: situación de calle — state of being homeless
  • Swedish: hemlöshet — state of being homeless
  • Turkish: evsizlik — state of being homeless
  • Welsh: digartrefedd — state of being homeless
  • Yoruba: àìrílégbé — state of being homeless
Real reading context

homelessness in complete knowledge articles