Kot (lodging)
A kot is a type of student housing privately rented during the academic or school year in Belgium. The word kot is used in both Belgian Dutch and Belgian French, but not in standard Dutch or standard French.
Etymology
The word comes from Flemish and means small shelter, nest, cabin. It can also even refer to slums. This term specifically used in Belgium refers to a cupboard and by extension any small room such as a student room. It emphasizes the narrow aspect which is typically encountered in such housing.These kots can be either individual or part of a shared house, in which a certain area is public casually called "commu".
The word kot belongs to the Dunkirk dialect, in which it's pronounced “kotsheu“, meaning a shed, a garden shed, a junk room.
Derived words include:
- the verb kotter, which means to rent and inhabit a kot, usually only during the week
- the nouns kotteur and kotteuse refer to the tenant of a kot and often by extension to every student living outside the family home
- the nouns cokotteur or cokotier and cokotteuse, which mean flatmate.