concierge

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a French caretaker of apartments or a hotel; lives on the premises and oversees people entering and leaving and handles mail and acts as janitor or porter

Etymology

Borrowed from French concierge (“caretaker; doorkeeper; lodge-keeper of a château”), from Old French conciarge, consierge, consirge, from Medieval Latin consergius; further etymology uncertain, probably from Vulgar Latin *cōnservius, from Latin cōnservus (“fellow servant; fellow slave”), from con- (prefix denoting a being or bringing together of several objects) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; near; with”)) + servus (“servant; slave”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to guard; to take care of”) + *-wós (suffix forming adjectives from verb stems)).

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