basement

English

Etymology

base +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeɪsmənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪsmənt
• Hyphenation: base‧ment

Noun

basement (plural basements)

1. A floor of a building below ground level.
   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:

     Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

3. (geology) A mass of igneous or metamorphic rock forming the foundation over which a platform of sedimentary rocks is laid.
4. (sports, informal) Last place in a sports conference's standings.

Derived terms

• bargain basement
• bargain-basement
• basement apartment
• basement battler
• basement-dweller
• basement dweller
• basement-dwelling
• basemented
• basementful
• basementless
• basementlike
• basement membrane
• basementward
• iceberg basement
• Michigan basement
• nonbasement
• semi-basement
• semibasement
• subbasement

 

Translations

floor below ground level

• Afrikaans: kelder
• Albanian: bodrum (sq), qilar (sq) m
• Arabic: قَبُو m (qabū), سِرْدَاب m (sirdāb), بَدْرُوم m (badrūm), بَدْرُون m (badrūn)

  Egyptian Arabic: بدرون m (badrawn)

  Hijazi Arabic: قَبو m (gabu), بدروم m (badrōm)

• Armenian: նկուղ (hy) (nkuġ)
• Asturian: suétanu (ast)
• Azerbaijani: zirzəmi
• Basque: soto
• Belarusian: падва́л m (padvál), склеп m (skljep), сутарэ́нне n (sutarénnje), сутарэ́ньне n (sutarénʹnje), піўні́ца f (piŭníca)
• Bulgarian: сутере́н (bg) m (suterén)
• Catalan: soterrani (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎭᏫᏂ (hawini)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 地牢 (dei⁶ lou⁴)

  Mandarin: 地下室 (zh) (dìxiàshì)

• Czech: suterén (cs) m, sklep (cs) m
• Danish: kælder (da) c
• Dutch: kelder (nl) m
• Esperanto: kelo (eo)
• Estonian: kelder
• Farefare: tɩntɩndeo, tẽntẽndeo
• Faroese: kjallari m, kjallarahædd f
• Finnish: kellarikerros (fi)
• French: sous-sol (fr) m, cave (fr) f
• Galician: soto (gl) m
• Georgian: სარდაფი (sardapi), სარდაფის სართული (sardapis sartuli), მიწისქვეშა სართული (mic̣iskveša sartuli), შენობის საძირკველი (šenobis saʒirḳveli), შენობის ფუნდამენტი (šenobis pundamenṭi)
• German: Keller (de) m, Untergeschoss (de) n, Kellergeschoss (de) n
• Greek: υπόγειο (el) n (ypógeio)
• Gujarati: ભોંયરું m (bhõyarũ)
• Hebrew: מַרְתֵּף (he) m (martéf)
• Hindi: तहख़ाना (tahxānā)
• Hungarian: alagsor (hu)
• Icelandic: kjallari (is) m
• Ido: basamento (io)
• Indonesian: bawah tanah, basemen
• Ingrian: podvala
• Irish: íoslach m
• Italian: scantinato (it) m, seminterrato (it) m
• Japanese: 地下室 (ja) (ちかしつ, chikashitsu)
• Javanese: ngisor
• Korean: 지하실(地下室) (ko) (jihasil)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ژێرزەوی (jêrzewî)

  Northern Kurdish: jêrzemîn (ku), bodrûm (ku)

• Latin: basis (la) f
• Latvian: pagrabs m
• Macedonian: подрум m (podrum), сутере́н m (suterén)
• Malay: bawah tanah (ms)
• Maltese: kantina m
• Ngazidja Comorian: fidji
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjeller (no) m

  Nynorsk: kjellar m

• Occitan: cava f, sòtol m
• Ottoman Turkish: پودروم (podrum), كنج (künc)
• Persian: زیرزمین (fa) (zirzamin), سردابه (fa) (sardâbe), سرداب (fa) (sardâb)
• Plautdietsch: Kjala m
• Polish: piwnica (pl) f, suterena (pl) f, suteryna f
• Portuguese: porão (pt) m, subsolo (pt) m
• Romanian: pivniță (ro) f, beci (ro) n, subsol (ro) n
• Russian: подва́л (ru) m (podvál) (second basement or below), цо́кольный эта́ж (ru) m (cókolʹnyj etáž) (first basement, lower ground floor, literally "ground floor"), подва́льный эта́ж m (podválʹnyj etáž) (second basement or below)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀друм m, пелница f (Kajkavian)

  Roman: pòdrum (sh) m, pelnica f (Kajkavian)

• Slovak: suterén m
• Slovene: klet (sl) m
• Spanish: sótano (es) m
• Swedish: källare (sv) c
• Tagalog: silong
• Turkish: bodrum (tr)
• Ukrainian: підва́л m (pidvál), пивни́ця f (pyvnýcja)
• Vietnamese: tầng hầm (vi)
• Welsh: islawr m, baslawr m

mass of rock

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: krystalinikum
• Danish: grundfjeld n
• Finnish: peruskallio (fi)
• French: socle (fr) m
• German: Grundgebirge n
• Italian: basamento (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: grunnfjell n

  Nynorsk: grunnfjell n

• Occitan: basament m, sòcle (oc) m
• Portuguese: embasamento (pt) m
• Romansch: sochel m
• Spanish: zócalo (es) m
• Swedish: urberg (sv) n

last place

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: jumbosija (fi)
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can

Anagrams

• beastmen, beatsmen