dweller

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰwel-der.

Proto-Germanic *dwalaz

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Germanic *-janą

Proto-Germanic *dwaljaną

Proto-West Germanic *dwalljan

Old English dwellan

▲

Old Norse dveljainflu.

Middle English dwellen

Middle English -ere

Middle English dweller

English dweller

From Middle English dweller, equivalent to dwell +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdwɛlə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdwɛlɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɛlə(ɹ)

Noun

dweller (plural dwellers)

1. An inhabitant of a specific place; an inhabitant or denizen.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:inhabitant

   The new couple are apartment dwellers.

   • 1642, James Howell, “Section X”, in Instructions for Forreine Travell. […], London: […] T. B. for Humprey Mosley [i.e., Humphrey Moseley] […], →OCLC, pages 132–133:

     [T]he craggineſſe and ſteepineſſe of places up and dovvn is a great advantage to the dvvellers, and makes them inacceſſible, for they ſerve as Fortreſſes erected by Nature her ſelfe, to protect them from all incurſions: […]

   • 1842, [Katherine] Thomson, chapter XV, in Widows and Widowers. A Romance of Real Life., volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 314–315:

     To the left was a large pond, on which a fleet of white ducks were sailing; and huge barns and out-houses for receiving tithes in kind, added to the farm-like character which seemed to form a connecting link between the dweller for the time being in the Rectory-house, and his rural parishioners.

   • 1963, Colin Clark, Australian Hopes and Fears‎^[1], page 75:

     As a result of these causes the grazier marks himself off fairly sharply from the rest of Australia. He has always spent a considerable proportion of the time in the capital cities, in each of which he has formed a club to which, besides the graziers, only a few of the wealthiest and most prominent of the city dwellers are admitted.

Derived terms

• basement-dweller
• basement dweller
• bottom dweller
• bydweller
• cave dweller
• cellar dweller
• city dweller, citydweller
• country dweller
• fringe dweller
• indweller
• mirror dweller
• night dweller
• outdweller
• shackdweller
• slum dweller, slumdweller
• town dweller, town-dweller, towndweller
• urban dweller
• valley dweller

Related terms

• dwell

Translations

inhabitant — see also inhabitant

• Spanish: morador (es) m

Middle English

Alternative forms

• dwellar, dwellare, dwellere

Etymology

From dwellen +‎ -ere (suffix forming agent nouns).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdwɛlər(ə)/

Noun

dweller (plural dwellers)

1. dweller, inhabitant

Descendants

• English: dweller
• Yola: dwellerès, dwelleres (plural)

References

• “dweller, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.