# room

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɹʊm/ · frequency rank #403

## Definitions
1. An opportunity or scope (to do something).
2. Space for something, or to carry out an activity.
3. A particular portion of space.
4. Sufficient space for or to do something.
5. A space between the timbers of a ship's frame.
6. A place; a stead.
7. A separate part of a building, enclosed by walls, a floor and a ceiling.
8. (One's) bedroom.
9. A set of rooms inhabited by someone; one's lodgings.
10. The people in a room.
11. An area for working in a coal mine.
12. A portion of a cave that is wider than a passage.
13. An IRC or chat room.
14. A place or position in society; office; rank; post, sometimes when vacated by its former occupant.
15. A quantity of furniture sufficient to furnish one room.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *Hrew-?
Proto-Indo-European *(H)rewH-der.
Proto-Germanic *rūmą
Proto-West Germanic *rūm
Old English rūm
Middle English roum
English room
From Middle English roum (“room, space”), from Old English rūm (“room, space”), from Proto-West Germanic *rūm (“room”), from Proto-Germanic *rūmą (“room”), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)rewH- (“to root; to rip, tear”), from *Hrew- (“to tear out, open”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian rüm (“room, space”), Saterland Frisian and Low German Ruum (“room, space”), Dutch ruim (“open space; cargo hold”), German and Luxembourgish Raum (“room, space”), Vilamovian raojm (“room”), Danish and Swedish rum (“room, space”), Faroese and Icelandic rúm (“space, room”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk rom (“room, space”), Gothic 𐍂𐌿𐌼 (rum, “room, space”); also Irish rúsc (“bark”), Manx roost (“bark; peel, rind”), Scottish Gaelic rùsg (“rind; bark; fleece; shell”), Welsh rhisgl (“bark”), Latin rūs (“country, fields, lands; estate, farm; village”), Ancient Greek ὀρύσσω (orússō), ὀρύττω (orúttō, “to dig”), Latvian raut (“to pull with force”), Lithuanian rauti (“to grub, pull”), Belarusian рыць (rycʹ, “to dig”), Bulgarian ри́я (ríja, “to excavate”), Czech rýt (“to dig; to engrave”), Polish ryć (“to dig”), Russian рыть (rytʹ, “to dig; to burrow, mine”), Slovak ryť (“to dig; to engrave”), Slovene riti (“to dig”), Ukrainian ри́ти (rýty, “to dig, excavate”), Central Kurdish ڕێو (rêw, “public hair”), Tocharian A kärpi (“raw, rough; common”), Tocharian B kärpiye (“raw, rough; common”), Sanskrit लोमन् (loman), रोमन् (roman, “body hair; down, wool”). More at rural. Doublet of Raum, a surname from German.
The word superficially appears to be an exception to the Great Vowel Shift, which might have produced the pronunciation /ɹaʊm/, but the retention of Middle English /uː/ before /m/ is regular. In fact, /aʊ/ does not occur before non-coronal consonants in Standard Modern English native vocabulary. Some dialects did undergo diphthongization in such a position and the pronunciation /ɹaʊm/ occurs, for example, in Lancashire.

## Easily confused with
- **row** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-row)
- **Roy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-roy)
- **rot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rot)
- **rum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rum)
- **rpm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rpm)
- **ROS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-ros)
- **rose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rose)
- **root** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-root)
- **Ross** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-ross)
- **rope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rope)
- **rows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rows)
- **Rosa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rosa)
- **Rory** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rory)
- **Roth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-roth)
- **Rowe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rowe)
- **rosy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rosy)
- **Roxy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-roxy)
- **rout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rout)
- **roux** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-roux)
- **ROTC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/room-vs-rotc)

## Common misspellings (3)
`orom`, `roomm`, `rroom`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/room