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Glite Dictionary
🧒 A child home alone 🔑 A door key
latchkey

latchkey

1 8.2
A small key used to open the latch of an outside door
  • noun
  • /ˈlætʃki/
translation icon : llave de pestillo
  • After school, she let herself in with her latchkey since her parents were still at work.

Examples

  • After all, most men carry a latchkey about with them.

    Dial M for Murder (1954)

  • Katy reached across and turned the latchkey, opening the door as Mrs. Flaherty came into the hall.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • He used his latchkey to unlock the front door and enter the house.

  • I heard the sound of the latchkey turning in the door as he arrived home.

Compounds

latchkey child
1 6.4

A child who comes home from school to an empty house and stays alone until parents return

Surface Forms

latchkey singular
latchkeys plural

Morphology

latchkey = latch + key (transparent) = latch + key

The compound is a straightforward combination of 'latch' + 'key' denoting a key for a latch.

Etymology

Latchkey is made from the two words latch and key, meaning a key 'for opening a latch' on a door. So it simply names the key you use to open the outside door.