homeless

English

Etymology

From Middle English *homles, *hamles, from Old English hāmlēas (“homeless”), equivalent to home +‎ -less. Cognate with Dutch heemloos, Danish hjemløs (“homeless”), Swedish hemlös (“homeless”). Compare also German heimatlos (“homeless”), Icelandic heimilislaus (“homeless”), West Frisian dakleas (“homeless”, literally “having no roof, roofless”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhoʊmlɪs/, /ˈhoʊmləs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

homeless (not comparable)

1. Lacking a permanent place of residence.

   Whenever I pass the park, I see the homeless people sleeping on the benches.

   • 1995 [1982], Jean-Luc Domenach, “The First Leftist Excesses and Their Consequences (Summer 1955-Winter 1956)”, in A M Berrett, transl., The Origins of the Great Leap Forward: The Case of One Chinese Province [Aux origines du Grand Bond en avant]‎^[1], Westview Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 44:

     Xinyang special region received 1,200-1,400 mm of rain between June and August 1956: 280,000 homes were destroyed and 3.2 million peasants (out of a total of almost 6 million) were left homeless. In the most affected county in the special region and the province, Huaibin, 60 percent of the total surface area was covered by floods and 230,000 out of 440,000 inhabitants left homeless; grain production fell by 66 percent in 1956 and the authorities had to send large amounts of relief.

   • 2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?‎^[2], New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 55:

     You know what you never see? A really good-looking homeless couple.

   • 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 57:

     The massive arches of the retaining walls have become tent city for the many homeless people in the area.

2. (of places) Containing no place that might be called home.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXV, page 54:

     But I should turn mine ears and hear
     The moanings of the homeless sea,
     ⁠The sound of streams that swift or slow
     ⁠Draw down Æonian hills, and sow
     The dust of continents to be; […]

Derived terms

• anti-homeless
• homeless dumping
• homeless shelter
• homelessness
• politically homeless

Related terms

• home

Descendants

• → Japanese: ホームレス (hōmuresu)

Translations

lacking a permanent residence

• Arabic: مُتَشَرِّد (ar) m (mutašarrid)
• Armenian: անօթեւան (anōtʻewan), դատարկուն (hy) (datarkun)
• Basque: etxegabe (eu)
• Catalan: sensellar (ca), sensesostre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無家可歸／无家可归 (zh) (wújiākěguī), 露宿街頭／露宿街头 (lùsù jiētóu)

• Czech: nebydlící, bez přístřeší, bez domova, bezprizorný, bezdomovec (cs)
• Danish: hjemløs (da)
• Dutch: dakloos (nl)
• Esperanto: senhejma
• Estonian: kodutu (et)
• Faroese: heimleysur
• Finnish: koditon (fi), asunnoton (fi)
• French: SDF (fr) (sans domicile fixe (fr)), itinérant (fr) (Quebec), sans-abri (fr)
• Galician: sen teito, sen fogar
• Georgian: უსახლკარო (usaxlḳaro), უბინაო (ubinao), მიუსაფარი (miusapari)
• German: obdachlos (de), wohnungslos (de)
• Greek: άστεγος (el) (ástegos)

  Ancient: ἄνοικος (ánoikos), ἄστεγος (ástegos), ἄχωρος (ákhōros)

• Hebrew: חֲסַר בַּיִת (he) (khasár báyit) (noun), הוֹמְלֶס (hómles) (noun)
• Hindi: बेघर (hi) (beghar), निराश्रय (hi) (nirāśray)
• Hungarian: hajléktalan (hu)
• Icelandic: heimilislaus
• Ido: senhema (io)
• Indonesian: tuna wisma
• Irish: gan dídean
• Italian: senzatetto (it)
• Japanese: 家なき (ie naki), 無宿の (ja) (mushuku no), ホームレス (ja) (hōmuresu)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: palabundus
• Malay: gelandangan, tuna wisma
• Maori: kāinga kore, kāingakore
• Middle English: herberweles
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hjemløs, husløs (no)

  Nynorsk: heimlaus

• Persian: بی‌خانمان (fa) (bi-xânemân)
• Polish: bezdomny (pl) m
• Portuguese: sem-teto (pt), sem-abrigo (pt) (chiefly Portugal); desabrigado (pt) (especially when due to a disaster); only as a noun (“homeless person”): morador de rua m
• Romanian: fără casă, fără adăpost, vagabond (ro)
• Russian: бездо́мный (ru) m (bezdómnyj), бомж (ru) m (bomž) (noun), (children) беспризо́рный (ru) (besprizórnyj)
• Scots: hameless
• Spanish: sin hogar, vagabundo (es), desalojado (es), sintecho, sin techo, en situación de calle, linyera (es) m or f (Argentina)
• Swedish: hemlös (sv)
• Telugu: వసతిలేని (vasatilēni)
• Thai: ไร้บ้าน, เร่ร่อน (th), ร่อนเร่ (th), พเนจร (th) (pá-nee-jɔɔn), จรจัด (th) (jɔɔn-jàt)
• Turkish: evsiz (tr), vatansız (tr), evsiz barksız
• Ukrainian: бездо́мний (uk) m (bezdómnyj), безприту́льний (uk) (bezprytúlʹnyj)
• Vietnamese: vô gia cư (vi), không cửa không nhà
• Walloon: sins toet (wa) ("sins-toet" for noun)

Noun

homeless (plural homelesses)

1. (nonstandard, possibly offensive) A person who is homeless.
   • Oszlár Kálmán András, Yoga in the Bed: Tantric Continence & Spiritual Intimacy

     […] the jobseekers and homelesses or even the future prime minister, all of us are involved in formation of the new world.

   • 1997, Martin Lyle Forst, The Police and the Homeless: Creating a Partnership Between Law Enforcement and Social Service Agencies in the Development of Effective Policies and Programs, page 54:

     […] homelesses' due process rights and infringed upon the homelesses' fundamental right to travel […]

See also

• bum
• destitute
• hobo
• tramp
• transient
• vagabond
• unhoused

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English homeless.

Noun

homeless m (plural homeless)

1. homeless

Declension

Declension of homeless

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) homeless	homelessul	(niște) homeless	homelessi
genitive/dative	(unui) homeless	homelessului	(unor) homeless	homelesslor
vocative	homelessule		homelesslor