Shack Up Has Nothing to Do With Building
A shack is a roughly built hut. The phrase shack up means to live together, usually without marriage.
A shack is a roughly built hut of scrap materials. *Shack up*, meaning to live with a partner without being married, comes from the same word by way of American slang from the 1930s: to shack up was simply to take temporary lodging, and the disapproving sense followed. The word's own origin is uncertain — possibly from Mexican Spanish *jacal*, a hut, or from an English dialect verb *shack*, to wander about.
- A rough hut. *A fishing shack.*
- Shack up — to cohabit. *They shacked up.*
- Radio shack — an operator's hut. *A radio shack.*
- Shanty — a near synonym. *A shanty town.*
- Uncertain origin. *Possibly Spanish jacal.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | shack | A shack. |
| Plural | shacks | Shacks. |
| Verb | shack | Shack up. |
| Related | shanty | A shanty. |
| Spanish | jacal | A hut. |
- They stayed in a beach shack.Building.
- The couple shacked up in the city.Idiom.
- Shanty is a close synonym.Related.
Words for makeshift housing
- Shack — roughly built, often from scrap
- Shanty — the same, and gives *shanty town*
- Hut — small and simple, not necessarily makeshift
- Hovel — small and squalid, always disparaging
- Lean-to — a shelter propped against a wall
American English from the 1870s, of uncertain origin, possibly from Mexican Spanish *jacal*, a hut, or from a dialect verb meaning to wander.
Where does shack up come from?
From American slang of the 1930s meaning to take temporary lodging. The sense of living together unmarried followed from that.
Is shanty related to shack?
Not directly. Shanty probably comes from Canadian French chantier, a lumber camp.