What does lodging mean?
Lodging refers to accommodation available in a house, hotel, hostel, boarding house, or similar place, normally for a limited stay. The noun can denote accommodation in general or a particular place where someone stays, with the plural lodgings often used for this purpose. As a verb, lodging means either residing temporarily or providing accommodation for someone. The word commonly appears in practical contexts such as travel, conferences, migration, and seasonal work, especially in notices about accommodation rates, available lodging, or arrangements for guests. Its connotations are generally practical and neutral, though it can suggest temporary or relatively basic accommodation rather than permanent housing. Lodging is also useful because it covers both the provision of a place to stay and the act of staying there, making it more flexible than a single form of the noun accommodation.
A place where a person is accommodated, especially temporarily; accommodation of this kind.
"The hotel offers lodging at reduced rates for conference participants."
The plural lodgings is common when referring to accommodation or to a place where someone stays.
To reside temporarily in a place or to provide accommodation for someone.
"The visiting scholars are lodging with colleagues near the university."
This use is especially common in British English; in American English it may sound formal in some contexts.
The plural is commonly used when referring to a place where someone is staying or to accommodation provided for visitors, workers, or guests.
"The inn provides clean and comfortable lodgings for travelling merchants."
Before it meant a hotel room, a lodge was a hunter's hut: the word has travelled from sheltering in the woods to checking into a room.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does lodging come from?
The noun lodging developed in Middle English from lodge together with the suffix -ing. Lodge came through Old French loge, meaning a hut or shelter, and its earlier history ultimately leads to a Latin term for a covered place or leafy arbor. The original sense of a small shelter or hut broadened to include the place where a person is accommodated.
How lodging is actually used
As a noun, lodging is often used in the plural form lodgings. In its verb senses, it is especially common in British English and can sound formal in American English.
Easily confused with lodging
A lodge is the building or structure itself, whereas lodging refers to accommodation or to the act of providing or taking accommodation.
Lodgment is now chiefly British and relatively uncommon, whereas lodging is the standard form in both British and American English.