You can think of townhouse as the two words it is made of: a house that belongs to the town. Land in a town is dear, so the house grows upward and leans in against its neighbours, with a front door straight onto the street. From that one picture the meanings fan out: the handsome house on a central street, the city half of a family who also have a place in the country, and a whole row of narrow homes sharing their walls.
townhouse 可以想成它的兩塊零件：town 加 house，一棟屬於城裡的房子。城裡地貴，房子就往上長、往兩邊靠，大門直接開在街上。從這一個畫面出發，幾個意思就散得開了。可能是市中心那棟體面的宅子。可能是有鄉下老家的人在城裡留的那個家。也可能是一整排共用牆壁的住宅。共通的底色都是「城裡、地窄、鄰居很近」。
From the word’s history
The supplied source records the word simply as town plus house, so the parts are still visible in every modern use.
來源資料只把這個字記成 town 加 house。也就是說，今天每一個用法裡，這兩塊零件都還看得見。
Wiktionary, townhouse (evidence packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1267387604:4309): From town + house.
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。