Hostess

How to spell hostess

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hostess

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hostess mean?

1. nounA woman who receives, entertains, or attends to guests, either socially or in a service role.

Hostess in a sentence

• The hostess greeted every guest at the door and took their coats.

• As a gracious hostess, she made sure no one went hungry all evening.

Where does hostess come from?

Language of origin: French

The word grows from 'host', which English took through Old French 'hoste' from the Latin 'hospes', a curious noun that meant both 'host' and 'guest' as well as 'stranger'; the same root gives us 'hospitality', 'hospital', and 'hotel'. To 'host' was added the feminine ending '-ess', which English borrowed from Old French '-esse', itself descended from the Latin '-issa' and ultimately the Greek '-issa', a suffix used to mark a female agent. The combined form appeared in English in the late 1200s to name a woman who lodged or entertained guests, mirroring the older masculine 'host'. Over the centuries the sense broadened to a woman who entertains socially, and in the twentieth century it stretched to staff roles such as an air hostess or a restaurant hostess. The spelling trap is simply the double 's' at the end, where the base word's single 's' meets the suffix's own 's'.

How the word is built

• host (one who entertains guests)
• -ess (feminine noun suffix)