Hotel

How to spell hotel

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hotel

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hotel mean?

1. nounAn establishment that provides paid lodging, and usually meals and services, for travellers and guests.

Hotel in a sentence

• The conference delegates were booked into a hotel near the station.

• The hotel offered free breakfast and late checkout.

Where does hotel come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the 1600s from the French hôtel, which meant a large private residence or town mansion, and later a public building offering lodging. The little circumflex over the 'o' in the French spelling marks an 's' that the language dropped over time, so hôtel descends directly from the Old French hostel, meaning a place that takes in guests. That hostel in turn comes from the Latin hospitale, meaning a guest house or place of welcome, built on hospes, which meant both 'guest' and 'host'. The same Latin root gave English a whole family of welcoming words, including 'hospital', 'hospitality', 'host', and 'hostel' itself, all sharing the idea of receiving strangers. English kept the streamlined French spelling 'hotel' without the circumflex, which is why the word looks deceptively simple for something with such a long pedigree.

How the word is built

• hotel (from French hôtel: a large lodging house; the circumflex marks a lost 's')