Doorman: A Job Title That Says Exactly What It Does
A doorman opens the door, watches who comes in, and often runs the building around it. The name is plain, and its plainness is now part of the problem.
A doorman stands at the entrance of a hotel, an apartment building or a club: opening doors, taking parcels, calling taxis and deciding who gets in. In tall city buildings the doorman is really a concierge, a security guard and a message service in one, which is why the word survives long after doors learned to open themselves.
- A person employed at the entrance of a building. *Leave the key with the doorman.*
- A person controlling entry to a club (British). *The doormen turned them away.*
- Doorman building — an apartment block with staff at the entrance. *A doorman building on the Upper West Side.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | doorman | Ask the doorman. |
| Plural | doormen | Two doormen on duty. |
| Neutral | door attendant | A door attendant. |
| Related | concierge | The concierge booked it. |
| Related | bouncer | The bouncer at the club. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The doorman signed for the parcel while I was out.The everyday reality of the job.
- It is a doorman building, so it costs more.In American property listings this is a selling point.
- He worked as a doorman before he joined the police.In Britain this usually means club security.
The -man problem
- Doorman — still the common word, and still used of men
- Door attendant / door staff — the neutral alternatives on job adverts
- Concierge — used where the role is service rather than security
- Bouncer — informal, and always about removing people
- Porter — the British term for building staff who carry and fetch
A plain English compound of *door* and *man*, recorded from the early nineteenth century. *Door* itself is one of the oldest words in the language, with cousins in German *Tür* and Greek *thyra*.
Doorman or bouncer?
A doorman greets and admits; a bouncer removes. British clubs often use doorman for both roles, and the licensed job title is door supervisor.
Do you tip a doorman?
In American cities, yes, especially at holidays and when they carry bags or hail a taxi. Practice varies elsewhere.