Where Did The Term Master Bedroom Come From
Also known as the master suite these bedrooms evolved from mcmansion type homes that sprung up in the mid 1980s.
Where did the term master bedroom come from. Why not being racist isn t enough 14 29. The exact origins of the term master bedroom are debated. The following sample list is compiled from the oed. Master beam 1611 master bough 16.
Master was used in england for men of some rank especially free masters of a trade guild and by any manual worker or servant employee addressing his employer his master but also generally by those lower in status to gentlemen priests or scholars in the elizabethan period it was used between equals especially to a group my masters mainly by urban artisans and tradespeople. A survey of 10 major washington d c area homebuilders found that six no longer use the term master in their floor plans to describe the largest bedroom in the house. Since time immemorial the word master has been attached as a prefix to a whole host of items to designate them as the primary or most important of the group. Historically master has been used to describe a man in an authoritative disciplinarian position.
A school master or the more sinister term slave master comes to mind. The houston association of realtors har will no longer use the term master to describe the primary bedroom of a home on their housing listings. The merriam webster dictionary defines it as a large or principal bedroom and says its first known use was in 1925. While the phrase hasn t gone away just yet the term could easily change within the next ten years.
Did you know the master bedroom the one with an enormous bathroom and walk in his and her closets has only been a common element in american real estate for the past 25 years or so. The term master bedroom first appeared in the early 20th century to denote that the room was reserved for the master of the household who almost always was a man. The houston association of realtors har decided to replace all. Add those to things you never thought you d learn on a real estate blog.
The master suite is being phased out not from our homes but from our lexicon.