Bedroom: The Room Named After Its Furniture
A bedroom is a room for sleeping. Estate agents count them, so the word also became a unit of measurement for houses and even for whole towns.
A bedroom is a room containing a bed and intended for sleeping. The word does more work than that suggests: property is priced by the bedroom, so the number in front of it tells you more about a house than almost anything else on the listing.
- A room for sleeping. *The house has three bedrooms.*
- Relating to private life (adjective). *Bedroom politics.*
- Commuter, in bedroom community. *A bedroom suburb of the capital.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bedroom | The spare bedroom. |
| Compound adjective | two-bedroom | A two-bedroom flat. |
| Compound | bedroom community | A quiet bedroom community. |
| Related | bedsit | A single bedsit. |
| Related | bedding | Clean bedding. |
How it is used in a sentence
- They are looking for a three-bedroom house.Singular before the noun, even for three.
- The master bedroom has an en suite.Master bedroom is now sometimes replaced by principal bedroom.
- The town is largely a bedroom community for the city.People sleep there and work elsewhere.
Rooms named the same way
- Bathroom — named after the bath
- Bedroom — named after the bed
- Dining room — named after the activity
- Living room — named after the activity, and once called the sitting room
- English names some rooms for their furniture and others for what happens in them
The compound is old and plain: *bed* plus *room*, both from Old English. *Room* itself once meant space in general, which is why you can still make room for someone without a wall in sight.
Two-bedroom or two-bedrooms?
Two-bedroom before a noun: *a two-bedroom flat*. Use the plural only when standing alone: *the flat has two bedrooms*.
Is master bedroom being replaced?
Many agencies now prefer principal or main bedroom. Both are understood, and master remains common in speech.