Meaning & use
houseman
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableBritishold-fashionedmedical
In Britain, a newly qualified doctor doing a year of supervised training in a hospital before being fully registered.
Grammar: Plural is housemen: several housemen.
Patterns
- a houseman at somewhere
He worked as a houseman in a busy London hospital.
The houseman examined the patient and called the consultant.
After graduating, she spent a year as a houseman in surgery.
nouncountableold-fashioned
A man employed to do general work in a house or hotel, such as cleaning and carrying things.
Grammar: Plural is housemen; the word describes a man.
Patterns
- a houseman at somewhere
The hotel hired a houseman to clean the lobby and carry luggage.
The old houseman had worked for the family for decades.
Word forms
| plural | housemen |
|---|
Common combinations
- work as a houseman
- He worked as a houseman before becoming a surgeon.
- junior houseman
- The junior houseman was on call all weekend.
- houseman post
- She applied for a houseman post in pediatrics.
- hospital houseman
- The hospital houseman wrote up the patient's notes.
- houseman's duties
- A houseman's duties included blood tests and ward rounds.
Synonyms and how they differ
- junior doctor
- Junior doctor is the modern, neutral term and covers all early-career doctors, not just the first year.
- intern
- Intern is the American word for a first-year doctor and is the closest equivalent.
- foundation doctor
- Foundation doctor is the current official British title that replaced houseman.
- house officer
- House officer is another older British term for the same stage of training, and is gender-neutral.
Opposites
Word family
- house noun
- a building where people live
- housekeeper noun
- a person who manages a household or hotel cleaning
- housemanship noun
- the period of being a houseman
Commonly confused: houseman or househusband?
houseman vs househusband
A househusband is a man who stays at home to run the household, while a houseman is either a junior doctor or a male worker in a hotel.
Practice
In the older British system, a newly qualified doctor in a hospital training year was called a ____.
Choose one answer.
Houseman was the title for a first-year hospital doctor. A registrar is more senior, so it is a tempting but wrong option.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “houseman”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.