What exactly is a residency?

i want to be a physician and i know you have to have a resendency or be a resident, what exactly does that mean? what do you do? is it a type of college? do you get paid?

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Answer:
Residency is on-the-job training. When you get out of medical school, you know just enough to be hazardous. Residency is hands on work as a physician in a particular specialty with lots of supervision.

Yes, you get paid (it IS a job), but you work the equivalent of 2 full time jobs and are expected to study on top of that.

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Answer:
It is the step after internship, which is your first apprenticeship,
and which you need to finish before you are licensed to practice.
You supervise interns under the guidance of more experienced Physicians.
It is the second stage of 'on the job training' in which
you treat real patints under supervision.