downstairs

English

Etymology

From down- +‎ stair +‎ -s.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɛɹz/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɛəz/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteːz/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstiəz/
• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteəz/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteɹz/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɜː(ɹ)z/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)z
• Hyphenation: down‧stairs

Adjective

downstairs (comparative further downstairs or farther downstairs, superlative furthest downstairs or farthest downstairs)

1. Located on a lower floor.

   The kids sleep in the downstairs bedroom; we sleep in the upstairs one.

Derived terms

• upstairs-downstairs

Translations

downstairs (adjective); a floor lower than the current one

• Finnish: alakerta (fi) sg
• French: en bas (fr)
• Hungarian: lenti (hu), földszinti (hu)
• Japanese: 階下 (ja) (kaika)
• Korean: 아래층 (ko) (araecheung)
• Ottoman Turkish: آشاغی (aşağı)
• Polish: na dole (pl)

Adverb

downstairs (comparative further downstairs or farther downstairs, superlative furthest downstairs or farthest downstairs)

1. Down the stairs.

   I have to walk downstairs to leave the building.

   The lodger lives downstairs.

2. (figurative) In or to hell.
3. (slang, euphemistic) Regarding the genitalia.

   something wrong downstairs

Translations

downstairs (adverb)

• Bulgarian: до́лу (dólu), надо́лу (nadólu)
• Catalan: a baix (ca), escala avall (where to)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樓下 / 楼下 (zh) (lóuxià)

• Dutch: beneden (nl)
• Esperanto: subŝtupare, malsupre, en la malsupra etaĝo (literally “on the lower floor”)
• French: au-dessous (fr), en bas (fr)
• German: unten (de), treppab (de), treppabwärts, nach unten
• Hungarian: lent (hu), lenn (hu), (on the ground floor [UK] or first floor [US]) a földszinten
• Indonesian: lantai bawah
• Irish: thíos an staighre (location), síos an staighre (direction)
• Italian: giù (it), di sotto
• Japanese: 階下 (ja) (かいか, kaika)
• Korean: 아래층에 (ko) (araecheung'e), 아래층으로 (ko) (araecheung'euro) (where to)
• Latvian: lejup, lejā, apakšējā stāvā
• Neapolitan: abbascio
• Norman: à bas
• Old English: niþre (where), niþer (where to)
• Ottoman Turkish: آشاغی (aşağı)
• Persian: طبقهٔ پایین (fa) (tabaqe-ye pâyîn)
• Polish: na dole (pl) (where), na dół (where to)
• Portuguese: embaixo (pt) (Brazil)
• Russian: внизу́ (ru) (vnizú) (where), на ни́жнем этаже́ (na nížnem etažé) (where); вниз (ru) (vniz) (where to), на ни́жний эта́ж (na nížnij etáž) (where to)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: dołojce

• Spanish: abajo (es)
• Sundanese: landeh
• Volapük: dono (vo)
• Welsh: lawr llawr (South), i lawr y staer (South), i lawr y grisiau (North)

Noun

downstairs (plural downstairs)

1. The lower floor of a house, at ground level, or sometimes below.

   We looked over the house; downstairs was spacious, but upstairs really cramped.

   1. In particular, especially historically, the servants’ quarters.

      The family tried to ignore gossip from downstairs.

      • 1978, Tom Reamy, Blind Voices:

        Now the two of them rattled around in the old house, even with his office and small clinic sharing the downstairs with the kitchen, parlor, and dining room.

2. (slang, euphemistic) The genitalia.

   The wind lifted up her skirt and I caught a glimpse of her downstairs.

Antonyms

• upstairs

Translations

the genitalia

• French: en bas (fr)
• Italian: di sotto, giù (it)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can

References

• “downstairs, adv., adj., and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2022.