bungalow
Americannoun
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a cottage of one story.
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(in India) a one-storied thatched or tiled house, usually surrounded by a veranda.
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(in the U.S.) a derivation of the Indian house type, popular especially during the first quarter of the 20th century, usually having one and a half stories, a widely bracketed gable roof, and a multi-windowed dormer and frequently built of rustic materials.
noun
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a one-storey house, sometimes with an attic
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(in India) a one-storey house, usually surrounded by a veranda
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bungalow
First recorded in 1670–80, bungalow is from the Hindi word banglā literally, of Bengal
Explanation
A bungalow is a little house. If you’re not ready for the three-story house in the suburbs just yet, you might try living in a bungalow. The word bungalow was originally used to describe the temporary houses set up by English sailors traveling to India to work for the East India Company. These little houses were often just one story high with a thatched roof. Nowadays, the word bungalow can be used to describe any one story house. Think of the little cabin you slept in at summer camp — that’s a kind of bungalow.
Vocabulary lists containing bungalow
There's No Word Like Home
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"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling
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"Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began" by Art Spiegelman
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In the heart of Lead, this 1925 bungalow overlooks the Homestake Gold Mine Open Cut.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
He led me into a cream-colored bungalow he called his pathogen laboratory, where two workers in lab coats prepared milk samples.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
When Nikki Little and John Porter retired, they considered buying a bungalow for just the two of them.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Farr, 56, purchased the four-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom property in 2011 when she and her then-husband, Seung Yong Chung, realized the Spanish bungalow they had been living in could no longer accommodate their rapidly expanding brood.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
He had spent his childhood moving freely between the bungalow and the main house.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
These newly wealthy-on-paper buyers are checking out bungalows and high-rise apartments with asking prices around $1.2 million to $1.5 million.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 13, 2026
My grandmother positions a chair in front of the windows of our sunroom, which look out onto the neighboring hills dotted with bungalows, Tuscan pines and tall palm trees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
Although many houses are modest bungalows, high-end homes can top $3 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 13, 2026
Students returned to the campus Tuesday in temporary bungalows — as permanent construction proceeds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
A bunch of lights publicized the New Motel, which proved to be, as the travelers neared it, an impressive compound consisting of bungalows, a garage, a restaurant, and a cocktail lounge.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
