Flophouse
(plural flophouses)
Noun
(chiefly US, informal/slang)
-
A very inexpensive hotel or boarding house, typically providing minimal accommodations and often overcrowded, catering mainly to poor, transient, or homeless individuals who may have nowhere else to live.
Example: “He spent the night at a crowded flophouse downtown.” - (Figurative or pejorative) A dwelling or lodging considered shabby, rundown, or unsanitary.
Pronunciation: /ˈflɑːpˌhaʊs/
Katakana: フロップハウス (Fu-roppu ha-u-su)
Hyphenation: flop‧house
Rhymes: -aʊs (e.g., mouse, house, grouse)
Etymology
From the slang verb flop (to lie down or sleep), combined with house. The verb flop in the sense of "to stay or sleep somewhere temporarily" dates back to the late 19th century, particularly in hobo and transient worker slang. The earliest known print use of flophouse appears in 1904, when McClure’s Magazine described a "flop house" as a place where occupants were "flopped" out of hanging bunks by releasing ropes—a vivid explanation unique to that source.
Related Media
Title: Former Times Square Flophouse Nears a Sale
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Posted: April 8, 2014
Reported by: Craig Karmin · Photo by Kevin Hagen
Summary: This feature explores the decline of flophouses in Times Square through the story of the Hotel Carter—once a notorious, low-cost fixture for transient guests. Its 2014 sale marked the end of an era in New York City.
Title: A Horrific Night in a Filthy 1800s New York Flophouse
Channel: Fact Feast
Description: Manhattan in the 1800s was a dangerous, overcrowded city. Many poor immigrants lived in cheap flophouses. This documentary recounts Arthur Pember’s first-hand journey into the city’s most squalid lodging houses during the Gangs of New York era.
In Music
Song: Appleknockers Flophouse
Artist: Braboos
Interpretation: In contrast to bleak depictions of flophouses, this song celebrates the flophouse as a free-spirited, inclusive haven—“a place in the sun” where joy and chaos go hand in hand.
Appleknockers flophouse, that’s where we live in
Such a good place for you and for me
If you come to our Appleknockers flophouse
You don’t know what you’re bound to see
Here, flophouse becomes a symbol of freedom rather than desperation—adding cultural depth and contrast to the word’s traditional associations.
References
- Wiktionary – flophouse
- Cambridge Dictionary – flophouse
- Etymonline – flophouse
- Britannica Dictionary – flophouse
- McClure’s Magazine (Nov. 1904), cited in early slang usage (unique anecdotal usage).
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