Hall

How to spell hall

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce hall

What does hall mean?

1. nounA large room or building used for public gatherings, meetings, or events.
2. nounA passage or corridor inside a building, often just past the entrance.

Hall in a sentence

• The wedding reception was held in a rented village hall.

• She hung her coat on the hook in the hall by the front door.

• Hundreds of fans packed the concert hall for the evening performance.

• The bedrooms run off a narrow hall on the upper floor.

Where does hall come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word that traces straight back to the Old English heall, meaning a large roofed building or the main room of a dwelling where a household gathered. It belongs to a wide Germanic family, with relatives such as the Old Norse holl and the German Halle, all built on a root meaning 'to cover' or 'to conceal', the same ancient root that lies behind 'hell' (a covered, hidden place) and 'hull'. In early medieval Britain the hall was the heart of a great house, the single grand room where lords feasted and people slept, which is why so many country houses and colleges are still simply called something 'Hall'. Over the centuries the sense narrowed in two directions: a grand public room or building for meetings and events, and the more modest entrance passage or corridor inside an ordinary home. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable, and the main trap is purely aural, since 'hall' sounds exactly like 'haul', the verb for dragging something heavy.

How the word is built

• hall (from Old English heall: a covered, roofed space)

Words that sound like hall

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• haul: To pull or drag something heavy with effort, often over a distance.