a man's home is his castle

English

Alternative forms

• an Englishman's home is his castle (UK)

Etymology

Traditional; the sentiment dates back to Roman times:

quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?

What more sacred, what more strongly guarded by every holy feeling, than a man's own home?

—Cicero

In English, see Book 4, Chapter 16 of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England:

And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?

Proverb

a man's home is his castle

1. A proverbial expression of personal privacy and security.

Translations

proverbial expression of personal privacy and security

• Arabic: بيت الرجل قصره
• Bengali: পুরুষের বাড়ি তার দুর্গ (puruśer baṛi tar durgo)
• Burmese: ေယာကၤ်ားတစ္ေယာက္ရဲ႕အိမ္ဟာ, လုံျခံဳေႏြးေႏြးမႈရွိတယ္
• Finnish: kotini on linnani
• French: charbonnier est maître en sa demeure, charbonnier est maître chez lui, cordonnier est maître chez lui
• Hindi: आदमी का घर उसका महल होता है (ādmī kā ghar uskā mahal hotā hai)
• Polish: pan na zagrodzie równy wojewodzie
• Portuguese: a casa de um homem é o seu castelo
• Turkish: Erkeğin evisi onun sarayı
• Urdu: آدمی کا گھر اسکا محل ہوتا ہے

See also

• castle doctrine
• knock-and-announce

Further reading

• “an Englishman s home is his castle” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “an Englishmans home is his castle”, in Collins English Dictionary.