hostel

CEFRB1

/ˈhɑstəl/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A cheap place where travelers can sleep, often sharing rooms.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge.

Examples

  • Is there a youth hostel around here?

  • Is there a youth hostel near here?

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4

Also pronounced

  • /ˈhosʈəl/
  • /ˈhɔsʈəl/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A temporary refuge for the homeless providing a bed and sometimes food.

  2. A commercial overnight lodging place, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.

  3. An overnight lodging place for travelers, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.

More examples

In context

  • Some insist that the Spanish hostel is a pornographic film.

  • a rundown hostel

  • The rest, around the hostel fire, / Their drowsy limbs recline; / For pillow, underneath each head, / The quiver and the targe were laid: / Deep slumbering on the hostel floor, / Oppressed with toil and ale, / they snore: […]

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

While traveling on a low budget, we chose a cheap blank instead of a fancy hotel.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English hostel, from Old French hostel, ostel, from Late Latin hospitale (“hospice”), from Classical Latin hospitalis (“hospitable”) itself from hospes (“host”) + -alis (“-al”). Doublet of hotel and hospital. Not in use from late 17th c. (in the usual sense from mid 16th c.) to 1808, when it was revived by Walter Scott in his poem Marmion (see the quotation).