Tenement

A tenement is like a big building with lots of smaller apartments in it. Imagine if you had a really big house with lots of rooms, but instead of one family living in each room, there were lots of families living in each room. That's kind of like what a tenement is.

A long time ago, when there were a lot of people moving to cities in search of work, there weren't enough houses or apartments for everyone to live in. So, people built tenements to try and fit as many families as possible in one building.

Each apartment in a tenement usually had only one or two rooms, and there wasn't a lot of space for things like kitchens or bathrooms. Sometimes, families even shared a bathroom with other families in the building.

Living in a tenement could be really tough. There wasn't a lot of privacy or space, and sometimes the buildings weren't very safe or clean. But for many people, it was the only option they had for a place to live.