dorm
UK[dɔːm]US[dɔːrm]
n
A large building at a college or university where students live.
Etymology
The word 'dorm' is a 20th-century American English shortening of 'dormitory'. 'Dormitory' itself entered English in the late 14th century from Latin dormitorium, meaning "a sleeping room," derived from the verb dormire, "to sleep." This Latin root is traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root dre-, meaning "to sleep," which also gives us words like "dormant" and "dormouse." The evolution from a general "sleeping place" to specifically denote student housing reflects the institutionalization of education where living quarters were organized en masse.
Analysis
The word is a simplex clipping of the longer word "dormitory". It is not productively formed from smaller, independent morphemes in modern English.
Examples
She lived in a freshman dorm on the north side of campus.
The university is building a new dorm to accommodate the increased enrollment.
After the library closed, he went back to his dorm to study.