tenement

Definitions

ten (hold) + -ment (result) = 'a holding' — originally any property one held. It narrowed to mean a large building divided into rented rooms, then specifically a crowded, run-down one. The legal sense of 'held property' is still felt under the modern slum image.

Common Collocations

• 1.tenement building廉租公寓楼
• 2.tenement house贫民住宅
• 3.run-down tenement破旧的廉租楼
• 4.tenement district贫民区

Example Sentences

• 1.

  They grew up in a crowded tenement on the Lower East Side.

• 2.

  The old tenement was finally demolished last year.