guest

See also: Guest

English

Etymology

From Middle English gest, from Old Norse gestr, which replaced or was merged with Old English ġiest, both from Proto-Germanic *gastiz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis (“stranger, guest, host, someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality”). Cognate with German Gast (“guest”). Doublet of host, from Latin.

Pronunciation

• enPR: gĕst, IPA^(key): /ɡɛst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst
• Homophone: guessed

Noun

guest (plural guests)

1. A recipient of hospitality, specifically someone staying by invitation at the house of another.

   The guests were let in by the butler.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.

2. A patron or customer in a hotel etc.

   Guests must vacate their rooms by 10 o'clock on their day of departure.

3. An invited visitor or performer to an institution or to a broadcast.

   The guest for the broadcast was a leading footballer.

4. (computing) A user given temporary access to a system despite not having an account of their own.
5. (zoology) Any insect that lives in the nest of another without compulsion and usually not as a parasite.
6. (zoology) An inquiline.

Translations

recipient of hospitality

• Afrikaans: gas (af)
• Ahom: 𑜁𑜢𑜀𑜫 (khik)
• Ainu: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: mysafir (sq) m, vizitor (sq) m
• Amharic: እንግዳ (ʾəngda)
• Arabic: ضَيْف‎ m or f (ḍayf)

  Egyptian Arabic: ضيف‎ m (ḍēf)

  Moroccan Arabic: ضِيف‎ m (ḍif)

• Armenian: հյուր (hy) (hyur)
• Aromanian: oaspe, musafir
• Assamese: আলহী (alohi)
• Asturian: güéspede m, güéspeda f
• Azerbaijani: qonaq (az), müsafir, mehman
• Baluchi: مہمان‎ (mihmán), میمان‎ (memán)
• Bashkir: ҡунаҡ (qunaq)
• Basque: ostalari
• Bats: ჰ̡აშ (h̡aš), ჰ̡აშე̆ (h̡ašĕ)
• Belarusian: госць m (hoscʹ), го́сця f (hóscja)
• Bengali: অতিথি (bn) (ôtithi)
• Bulgarian: гост (bg) m (gost)
• Burmese: ဧည့်သည် (my) (e-ny.sany), ဧည့် (my) (e-ny.)
• Catalan: convidat (ca) m, hoste (ca) m
• Chichewa: mlendo
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 人客 (jan⁴ haak³), 客人 (haak³ jan⁴)

  Dungan: кижын (kiřɨn)

  Gan: 人客 (nyin⁴ kah⁶)

  Jin: 客人 (kah⁴ zeng¹)

  Mandarin: 客人 (zh) (kèrén), 來賓 (zh), 来宾 (zh) (láibīn), 來客 (zh), 来客 (zh) (láikè)

  Min Dong: 人客 (nè̤ng-káh)

  Min Nan: 人客 (zh-min-nan) (lâng^-kheh, lâng^-kheeh)

  Xiang: 人客 (zhen² ke⁶)

• Chittagonian: গরবা (gorba)
• Chukchi: рэмкыԓьын (rėmkyḷʹyn)
• Czech: host (cs) m
• Danish: gæst (da) c
• Dutch: gast (nl) m
• Esperanto: gasto
• Estonian: külaline
• Faroese: gestur m
• Finnish: vieras (fi)
• French: invité (fr) m, invitée (fr) f, hôte (fr) m or f
• Friulian: forest, ospit
• Galician: hóspede (gl) m or f
• Georgian: სტუმარი (sṭumari)
• German: Gast (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (gasts)
• Greek: επισκέπτης (el) m (episképtis)
• Gujarati: અતિથિ (atithi)
• Hebrew: אוֹרֵחַ‎ (he) m (oréakh)
• Hindi: मेहमान (hi) m (mehmān), अतिथि (hi) m (atithi)
• Hungarian: vendég (hu)
• Icelandic: gestur (is) m
• Indonesian: tamu (id)
• Isan: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: ospite (it) m or f, invitato (it) m, convitato (it) m
• Japanese: 客人 (ja) (きゃくじん, kyakujin), 客 (ja) (きゃく, kyaku), (honorific) お客さん (おきゃくさん, o-kyaku-san), 来客 (ja) (らいきゃく, raikyaku)
• Kazakh: қонақ (kk) (qonaq), мейман (meyman)
• Khmer: ភ្ញៀវ (km) (phñiəw), អតិថិ (km) (ʾaʾtetheʾ), អាវេសិក (km) (ʾaaveesək)
• Korean: 손님 (ko) (sonnim)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: mêvan (ku)

  Sorani: میوان‎ (ku) (mîwan)

• Kyrgyz: конок (konok), мейман (meyman)
• Laboya: kulla
• Lao: ແຂກ (lo) (khǣk)

• Latgalian: gosts
• Latin: hostis (la) c, hospes m
• Latvian: viesis m
• Lithuanian: svečias m
• Lü: ᦶᦃᧅᧈ (ẋaek¹)
• Macedonian: го́стин m (góstin), го́стинка f (góstinka), гост m (gost)
• Malay: tetamu
• Maltese: mistieden m
• Maori: manuhiri
• Mongolian: зочин (mn) (zočin)
• Ngazidja Comorian: mdjeni class 1/2
• Northern Sami: guossi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gjest (no) m

• Occitan: convidat
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: гость m (gostĭ)

  Glagolitic: ⰳⱁⱄⱅⱐ m (gostĭ)

• Old East Slavic: гость m (gostĭ)
• Old English: ġiest m, cuma m
• Old Norse: gestr m
• Ossetian: уазӕг (wazæg)
• Pali: atithi m
• Pashto: مېلمه‎ (ps) m (melmá), رابللی‎ m (rābalálay)
• Persian: مهمان‎ (fa) (mehmân)
• Polish: gość (pl) m
• Portuguese: hóspede (pt) m or f
• Romanian: oaspete (ro) m, musafir (ro) m
• Romansch: giast, hosp
• Russian: гость (ru) m (gostʹ), го́стья (ru) f (góstʹja)
• Sanskrit: अतिथि (sa) m (atithi)
• Sardinian: cumbidàu
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гост m, гошћа f

  Roman: gost (sh) m, gošća (sh) f

• Shan: ၶႅၵ်ႇ (khàek)
• Slovak: hosť m
• Slovene: gost (sl) m, gošća f, gostja f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: gósć m

  Upper Sorbian: hósć m

• Spanish: huésped (es) m or f, visita (es) f, visitante (es) m or f, convidado (es) m, comensal (es) m or f
• Svan: მუშგვრი (mušgvri)
• Swahili: mgeni (sw) class m-wa
• Swedish: gäst (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠝꠦꠝꠣꠘ (meman)
• Tajik: меҳмон (tg) (mehmon)
• Tatar: кунак (tt) (qunaq)
• Telugu: అతిథి (te) (atithi)
• Thai: แขก (th) (kɛ̀ɛk)
• Tibetan: མགྲོན་པོ (mgron po)
• Tigrinya: ጋሻ (gaša)
• Turkish: konuk (tr), misafir (tr)
• Turkmen: myhman
• Tuvan: аалчы (aalčı)
• Ukrainian: гість m (histʹ), го́стя f (hóstja)
• Urdu: مہمان‎ m (mehmān)
• Uyghur: مېھمان‎ (mëhman)
• Uzbek: mehmon (uz)
• Vietnamese: khách (vi) (客)
• Volapük: lotan (vo)
• Walloon: priyî (wa) m, invité m
• Wolof: gan (wo)
• Yiddish: גאַסט‎ m (gast)
• Zazaki: meyman du
• Zhuang: bouxhek, hek

patron, customer

• Afrikaans: gas (af), klant (af), klient
• Armenian: հաճախորդ (hy) (hačaxord)
• Basque: ostalari
• Bulgarian: посети́тел (bg) m (posetítel), клие́нт (bg) m (kliént)
• Catalan: hoste (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 顧客 (zh), 顾客 (zh) (gùkè)

• Czech: host (cs) m
• Danish: gæst (da) c
• Dutch: gast (nl) m
• Faroese: gestur m
• Finnish: asiakas (fi), vieras (fi)
• French: client(e) (fr) m
• Galician: hóspede (gl) m or f
• German: Gast (de) m
• Greek: πελάτης (el) m (pelátis)
• Hebrew: אוֹרֵחַ‎ (he) m (oréakh)
• Icelandic: gestur (is) m

• Italian: cliente (it) m or f, ospite (it) m or f
• Japanese: 客 (ja) (きゃく, kyaku), (honorific) お客さん (おきゃくさん, o-kyaku-san), 顧客 (ja) (こきゃく, kokyaku)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: میوان‎ (ku) (mîwan)

• Macedonian: го́стин m (góstin)
• Old English: ġiest m, cuma m
• Polish: gość (pl) m
• Portuguese: hóspede (pt) m or f
• Russian: посети́тель (ru) m (posetítelʹ), посети́тельница (ru) f (posetítelʹnica), постоя́лец (ru) m (postojálec) (hotel), клие́нт (ru) m (klijént), клие́нтка (ru) f (klijéntka)
• Slovene: gost (sl) m, gostja f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: gósć m

  Upper Sorbian: hósć m

• Swedish: gäst (sv) c, hotellgäst c
• Vietnamese: khách (vi)
• Zazaki: mışterı du or f du or n

invited performer

• Afrikaans: gaskunstenaar
• Basque: gonbidatu
• Bulgarian: гост (bg) m (gost)
• Catalan: invitat (ca) m
• Czech: host (cs) m
• Danish: gæst (da) c
• Dutch: gast (nl) m
• Faroese: gestur m
• Finnish: vieras (fi)
• French: invité(e) m
• Galician: convidado (gl) m
• German: Gast (de) m
• Greek: φιλοξενούμενος (el) m (filoxenoúmenos), προσκεκλημένος (el) m (proskekliménos)
• Hebrew: אוֹרֵחַ‎ (he) m (oréakh)
• Icelandic: gestur (is) m

• Italian: ospite (it) m or f
• Macedonian: гостин m (gostin)
• Polish: gość (pl) m
• Portuguese: convidado (pt) m
• Russian: гость (ru) m (gostʹ), го́стья (ru) f (góstʹja)
• Slovak: hosť m, hostka f, hostia pl
• Slovene: gost (sl) m, gostja f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: gósć m

• Spanish: invitado (es) m, invitada (es) f
• Swedish: gäst (sv) c, gästartist (sv) c
• Telugu: అతిథి (te) (atithi)
• Zazaki: meyman m du or f du or n du

Verb

guest (third-person singular simple present guests, present participle guesting, simple past and past participle guested)

1. (intransitive) to appear as a guest, especially on a broadcast
2. (intransitive) as a musician, to play as a guest, providing an instrument that a band/orchestra does not normally have in its line up (for instance, percussion in a string band)
3. (transitive, obsolete) To receive or entertain hospitably.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sylvester to this entry?)

Translations

to appear as a guest

• Basque: gonbidatu
• Bulgarian: гостувам (gostuvam)
• Danish: gæste
• Finnish: esiintyä vieraana
• German: gastieren (de)
• Greek: φιλοξενούμαι (el) (filoxenoúmai)

• Hebrew: התארח‎ (hitarákh)
• Macedonian: гостува (gostuva)
• Russian: гости́ть (ru) impf (gostítʹ); (on broadcast) быть в гостя́х (bytʹ v gostjáx)
• Swedish: gästa (sv)
• Zazaki: meymaniye n or pf

to receive or entertain hospitably as a guest — see host

Derived terms

Derived terms

• guest book
• guestfree
• guestfriendly
• guestfriendship

• guesthouse, guest house
• guest of honour, guest of honor

Anagrams

• tegus