A ranch style house in Salinas, California

Example of an early Victorian "Gingerbread House" in the United States, built in 1855 House generally refers to a shelter or building that is meant as a dwelling or place for habitation by human beings. "Houses" include many kinds of dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to high-rise apartment buildings.[1] However, the word can also be used as a verb ("to house"), and can have adjectival formations as well. In some contexts, "house" may mean the same as dwelling, residence, home, abode, accommodation, housing, lodging, among other meanings. The social unit that lives in a house is known as a household. Most commonly, a household is a family unit of some kind, though households can be other social groups, such as single persons, or groups of unrelated individuals. Settled agrarian and industrial societies are composed of household units living permanently in housing of various types, according to a variety of forms of Land tenure. English-speaking people generally call any building they routinely occupy "home". Many people leave their house during the day for work and recreation but typically return to it to sleep or for other activities.