villa
pronunciation
How to pronounce villa in British English:
UK [ˈvɪlə]
How to pronounce villa in American English:
US [ˈvɪlə]
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- Noun:
- detached or semi-detached suburban house
- country house in ancient Rome consisting of residential quarters and farm buildings around a courtyard
- pretentious and luxurious country residence with extensive grounds
Word Origin
- villa
- villa: [17] Latin vīlla denoted a ‘country house’. It was a condensation of an earlier *wīcslā, which in turn was derived from *wīcus ‘group of houses, camp, village, etc’ (source of the -wick, -wich of English place-names). And *wīcus was descended from Indo-European *weik-, *wik-, *woik-, which also produced Greek oíkos ‘house’ (source of English economy).To the same family belong village [14], a derivative of Old French ville in its extended sense ‘town’, and villain [14], which came via Old French vilain from Vulgar Latin *vīllānus, literally ‘dweller in a villa’, and originally denoted ‘feudal serf’ (now usually spelled villein, to distinguish it from the metaphorical ‘scoundrel, criminal’).=> economy, village, villain
- villa (n.)
- 1610s, "country mansion of the ancient Romans," from Italian villa "country house, villa, farm," from Latin villa "country house, farm," related to vicus "village, group of houses," from PIE *weik-sla-, suffixed form of root *weik- (1) "clan" (cognates: Sanskrit vesah "house," vit "dwelling, house, settlement;" Avestan vis "house, village, clan;" Old Persian vitham "house, royal house;" Greek oikos "house;" Old Church Slavonic visi "village;" Gothic weihs "village;" Lithuanian viešpats "master of the house"). Of modern structures from 1711.
Example
- 1. The yewden villa excavations at hambleden in 1912 .
- 2. Hadrian 's villa in tivoli , italy .
- 3. Every new villa for rich chinese shunts poorer chinese out of the way .
- 4. He fled to his villa in the red sea resort of sharm el-sheikh with his family .
- 5. Swapping the saratoga 's comforts for a cell in villa marista .