Master Bedroom
The largest room in a house is called the master bedroom.
However, the phrase is loaded with heavy colonial baggage. Though its origins are contested, the phrase most likely emerged from Dutch architecture in the 20th-century colonies.
Inside the large colonial estates, a feudal hierarchy was maintained to run the affairs. Different roles were maintained with a strong sense of segregation, with only the upper echelons of staff allowed access to certain parts of the house.
Furthermore, the terminology leaves independent women out of homeownership by not having room for a ‘mistress bedroom’.
The ‘master bedroom’ represented a beacon of exclusion because it disbarred entry to people of color.
Somehow, this sort of class-based pejorative stuck in our vocabulary and continues to feature in our written work, even the most prized novels of our times, include such a classification in their descriptions.
In fact, recently, as an aftermath of the BLM protests, the National Association of Home Builders has opted to replace the phrase with ‘primary bedroom.’
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