Saloon

How to spell saloon

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce saloon

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does saloon mean?

1. nounA public room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served.
2. nounA passenger car with a closed body and a separate boot, known in America as a sedan.

Saloon in a sentence

• The old saloon on the corner still serves draught beer.

• The family traded their hatchback for a four-door saloon.

• Dusty cowboys pushed through the swinging doors of the saloon.

• The executive saloon had leather seats and a spacious boot.

Where does saloon come from?

Language of origin: French

Saloon arrived in English in the early 1700s as an anglicised spelling of the French salon, which itself was an Italian-influenced enlargement of salle, meaning 'hall' or 'large room', a word that traces back through Old French to a Frankish root for a building or dwelling. The French salon described a grand reception room, and English speakers first used saloon in exactly that sense for a spacious public apartment or hall used for entertainment. Over the 1800s the meaning narrowed in everyday use towards rooms where people gathered to drink, giving the American 'Wild West saloon' and the British 'saloon bar' of a pub. In Britain the word also drifted into motoring, where a saloon is a closed passenger car, what Americans call a sedan. The double 'o' spelling, which separates it from the unchanged French 'salon' still used for hairdressers and art shows, is the main thing to remember.

How the word is built

• saloon (from French salon, an enlarged form of salle 'hall, large room')