An Englishman's house (home) is his castle. (17th century)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A person's home is their private and secure domain.
Literally: a house as a fortified castle
Examples
He refused to let the police in, saying an Englishman's house is his castle.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “An Englishman's house (home) is his castle. (17th century)” mean?
A person's home is their private and secure domain. Literally: a house as a fortified castle
Is “An Englishman's house (home) is his castle. (17th century)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.