cabin

cabin — noun

1. a small one-room or two-room house, often built from logs or wooden boards, that

1.nounB1
Definition

a small one-room or two-room house, often built from logs or wooden boards, that people use as a holiday home or a basic place to live in the countryside.

Example

Marcus built a tiny log cabin beside the lake using pine trees from his land.

noun phrase: log cabin

The Watanabe family rented a wooden cabin in the mountains for the winter holiday.

collocation: rent a cabin

Common collocations
  • log cabin
  • wooden cabin
  • rent a cabin
  • hunting cabin
  • mountain cabin
Synonyms
  • cottage

    small rural house, usually of stone or brick rather than logs

  • lodge

    larger holiday or hunting house, often with several rooms

  • hut

    smaller and simpler than a cabin, often with no proper kitchen or bathroom

Grammar Patterns

a cabin in/on [place]

log cabin

Usage Note

Usually paired with a wood-related modifier (log, wooden, timber) or a setting modifier (mountain, lakeside, hunting). Suggests a rustic or holiday context, not a normal urban home.

Common Mistakes

We bought a new cabin in the city centre.
We bought a new apartment in the city centre.
a cabin is a small rustic dwelling, not an urban residence.

2. a private bedroom built into a ship, usually below the main deck, where one pass

2.nounC1
Definition

a private bedroom built into a ship, usually below the main deck, where one passenger or crew member can sleep, change clothes, and store luggage during the voyage.

Example

Sarah shared a tiny cabin with two narrow beds on the ferry to Hokkaido.

pattern: share a cabin with [someone]

Carlos paid an extra two hundred dollars a night for a cabin with a sea view on the cruise.

collocation: cabin with a sea view

Common collocations
  • share a cabin
  • captain's cabin
  • outside cabin
  • inside cabin
  • cabin on board
Synonyms
  • stateroom

    more formal; a private cabin on a passenger ship, often larger and better equipped

  • berth

    the bed itself rather than the whole room; can also be the docking spot for the ship

Grammar Patterns

a cabin on [a ship/boat]

share a cabin with [someone]

Usage Note

Common collocations: outside cabin (with a window), inside cabin (no window), first-class cabin. The preposition 'on' is used for the ship as a whole; 'in' is used for inside the cabin itself.

Common Mistakes

I slept in my cabin on the train all night.
I slept in my sleeper berth on the train all night.
for trains, use 'sleeper' or 'compartment', not 'cabin'.

3. the enclosed seating area inside a plane where passengers travel during a flight

3.nounB1
Definition

the enclosed seating area inside a plane where passengers travel during a flight; the same word is sometimes used for the equivalent space in a spacecraft or large vehicle.

Example

The flight attendants asked everyone in the cabin to fasten their seat belts before takeoff.

preposition: in the cabin

Lights in the cabin were dimmed so passengers could sleep on the flight to London.

Common collocations
  • cabin crew
  • cabin pressure
  • cabin baggage
  • cabin class
  • in the cabin
Synonyms
  • compartment

    more general; can also mean a small section inside the cabin

  • passenger area

    descriptive phrase rather than a single noun; clearer for non-aviation contexts

Antonyms
  • cockpit

    the front section where the pilot controls the plane

Grammar Patterns

the cabin of [a plane]

in the cabin

Usage Note

Frequently used in fixed compounds: cabin crew, cabin pressure, cabin baggage, cabin class. Distinguish from sense 2 (ship): the plane sense covers the whole passenger area, not a private bedroom.

Common Mistakes

The pilot sat in the cabin during the flight.
The pilot sat in the cockpit during the flight.
pilots work in the cockpit; the cabin is for passengers.

4. a small partitioned booth, often glass-walled, placed inside a workplace such as

4.nounB2
Definition

a small partitioned booth, often glass-walled, placed inside a workplace such as a factory, station, or warehouse, where one staff member sits to check people in, sell tickets, or do paperwork.

Example

The security guard waved Marcus through from a glass cabin near the factory gate.

collocation: glass cabin / security cabin

Each ticket seller works in a tiny cabin beside the platform at the bus station.

Common collocations
  • security cabin
  • supervisor's cabin
  • ticket cabin
  • glass cabin
Synonyms
  • booth

    more common in American English; usually open at one side

  • cubicle

    low-walled office space, larger and more open than a cabin

  • kiosk

    small public-facing booth, often for selling tickets or information

Grammar Patterns

a cabin in/inside [a building]

Usage Note

More common in British English; American English often prefers 'booth', 'cubicle', or 'office'. Subject inside a cabin is usually a single role-holder (guard, clerk, supervisor), not a team.

Common Mistakes

I share a cabin with five colleagues at our marketing firm.
I share a cubicle area with five colleagues at our marketing firm.
a work cabin is for one person, not a shared team space.

cabin — verb

Word family

  • cabined
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five words name a small dwelling, but they differ in material, size, and tone. A cabin is usually built from logs or rough boards and stands in a forest, by a lake, or in the mountains, often as a holiday or hunting base. A cottage is also small and rural but is typically made of stone or brick and feels homely rather than rugged — think of an English country cottage with a garden. A lodge is larger than a cabin, often part of a hotel or hunting estate, and may have several bedrooms and shared lounges. A hut is even simpler than a cabin, sometimes with only one room and few comforts; it can also be temporary, like a fisherman's hut on the beach. A shack is rough and run-down, suggesting poverty or neglect — 'They lived in a shack on the edge of town' carries a clearly negative tone, while 'They spent the weekend at a cabin in the woods' sounds positive and inviting.

cabin ↗cottage ↗lodge ↗hut ↗shack ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • cabin crew
  • cabin pressure
  • cabin baggage
  • log cabin
  • cabin door

Phrases

  • share a cabin
  • rent a cabin
  • book a cabin

Prepositions

  • in a cabin
  • on board a cabin
  • inside the cabin

Etymology

Late LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

English borrowed cabin in the late 1300s from Old French 'cabane', meaning a small hut or shelter, which itself came from Late Latin 'capanna', a small countryside dwelling. The earliest English uses described a humble shelter or peasant's house. The 'room on a ship' meaning appeared in the 1400s, as ships grew large enough to have private sleeping quarters for officers and important passengers. The 'plane interior' meaning is much newer, dating from the early 20th century, when aircraft designers reused the ship word for the closed area where passengers travel. The verb sense, meaning to shut someone into a tight space, grew out of the noun in the 1500s and is now mainly literary or legal.