マイホーム

マイホーム is a wasei-eigo term combining English "my" + "home." Despite the literal meaning, it refers specifically to home ownership — buying one's own house or condominium. The word carries strong cultural overtones of life-stage achievement and adult responsibility.

Cultural note

• Buying a マイホーム has long been a major life goal in Japan, on par with marriage and a stable job.
• The phrase often appears in advertising for housing developers, mortgage companies, and home loans.
• Recent trends include more flexibility — single-person マイホーム purchases, condos rather than detached houses, and second-home purchases in rural areas.

Common collocations

• マイホームを買(か)う / 購入(こうにゅう)する: to buy a home
• マイホームを建(た)てる: to build a home
• マイホームを手(て)に入(い)れる: to obtain a home
• マイホーム購入(こうにゅう)資金(しきん): home-buying funds
• マイホームの夢(ゆめ): the dream of home ownership
• マイホームローン: home loan / mortgage (also called 住宅(じゅうたく)ローン)

Scope notes

• Despite "my" being singular and first-person in English, マイホーム is used regardless of the speaker — "their" home, "his" home, etc. The phrase has become a fixed compound noun, not a possessive pronoun.
• A renter's home is generally not called マイホーム — it's just 自宅(じたく) or 家(いえ).

Related words

• 持(も)ち家(いえ): owned home (more neutral, technical term)
• 自宅(じたく): one's home (whether owned or rented)
• 一戸建(いっこだ)て: detached house
• マンション: condominium / apartment building (in Japanese, ownership-style condos are commonly called マンション)
• マイカー: one's own car (parallel wasei-eigo formation)