hotel
Pluralhotels
- 1A building where you pay to sleep, and often to eat, when you are away from home.
We stayed in a hotel near the beach for a week.
The hotel has a pool on the roof.
UsageSay a hotel, and stay at a hotel.
Similarinn
Note
- 2
- 3In South Asia, a restaurant or any place that serves meals.
In Chennai, we ate at a small hotel, then went home to sleep.
The hotel on the corner makes the best dosas in town.
Similarrestaurant, eatery
Note
Less common meanings
- 4In the board game Monopoly, the big red building that replaces four houses.
She put a hotel on Boardwalk and the game was over.
You need four houses on a street before you can buy a hotel.
- 5The part of a cruise ship where guests sleep and eat.
The hotel staff on the ship clean the cabins and serve the meals.
Most of the crew on a cruise ship work in the hotel, not on the bridge.
- 6Another spelling of Hotel, with a small h: the word said for the letter H when spelling aloud by radio or phone.
The pilot read back the call sign as hotel, alpha, kilo.
On a bad phone line, say hotel for H so nobody mistakes the letter.
Note
- 7In the past, a large grand house in a town, especially in France.
The count's hotel stood on the best street in Paris.
[T]he cream-coloured house (supposed to be modelled on the private hotels of the Parisian aristocracy) was there[.]
1920, Edith Wharton, The Age of InnocenceHere, hotels means grand private homes, large town houses of rich families.Note
Practice
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Origin
It came from French hôtel, which goes back through older French words to a Latin word for a guesthouse or shelter. It shares its roots with 'hostel' and 'hospital'.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Hotel came from French hôtel. en.wiktionary.org
- French hôtel descends through older French forms from a Latin word meaning guesthouse or shelter. en.wiktionary.org
- Hotel shares its roots with hostel and hospital. en.wiktionary.org