hostel

English

Etymology

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).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑstəl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒstəl/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔsʈəl/, /hɔsˈʈɛl/, /ˈhosʈəl/, /hɵsˈʈɛl/
• Homophone: hostile (one pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -ɒstəl

Noun

hostel (plural hostels)

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

   a rundown hostel

   • 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Third. The Hostel, or Inn.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza XXVIII, pages 161–162:

     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: […]

2. (not US) A temporary refuge for the homeless providing a bed and sometimes food.
3. (obsolete) A small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge.
   • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC:

     There are also in Oxford certeine hostels or hals, which may rightwell be called by the names of colleges , if it were not that there is more libertie in them , than is to be seen in the other

4. (obsolete) A public hotel.
   • 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 135:

     Immediately at hand was a small, mean public-house - one of those dingy establishments that seem to express, by their morbid and retiring appearance, a certain anxiety to escape the eye of the police - and into the parlour of this hostel Quin promptly led the way.

5. (South Africa, South Asia) A university or school dormitory, a place of accommodation for students.
6. This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
   • 2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The excitement was palpable for believers and non-believers alike. Next, Francis declined to move into the gilded papal apartment vacated by his predecessor. Instead he was going to remain in the small room in the Santa Marta hostel in the Vatican where he had stayed during the conclave.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:lodging place

Derived terms

• bail hostel
• hosteler, hosteller
• hostelite
• hostelry
• poshtel
• probation hostel
• youth hostel

Related terms

• host
• hostler
• hotel

Descendants

• → Hindi: हॉस्टल (hŏsṭal)
• → Japanese: ホステル (hosuteru)
• → Korean: 호스텔 (hoseutel)
• → Oromo: hosteela
• → Tamil: ஹாஸ்டல் (hāsṭal)

Translations

an affordable overnight lodging place

• Arabic: نُزُل m (nuzul), أُوتِيل m (ʔōtēl)
• Armenian: հանրակացարան (hy) (hanrakacʻaran), հոսթել (hy) (hostʻel), իջեւանատուն (hy) (iǰewanatun)
• Bulgarian: хосте́л m (hostél)
• Catalan: alberg (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 招待所 (zh) (zhāodàisuǒ), 宿舍 (zh) (sùshè), 旅舍 (zh) (lǚshè), 旅社 (zh) (lǚshè), 背包客棧 / 背包客栈 (bēibāo kèzhàn) (Taiwan)

• Czech: hostel (cs) m
• Danish: vandrerhjem n, hostel n, herberg n
• Dutch: herberg (nl) m, pension (nl) n
• Esperanto: gastejo
• Finnish: hostelli (fi), retkeilymaja, matkustajakoti (fi)
• French: auberge (fr) f, pension (fr) f
• Georgian: ჰოსტელი (hosṭeli), საერთო საცხოვრებელი (saerto sacxovrebeli)
• German: Herberge (de) f, Wohnheim (de) n, Heim (de) n

  Alemannic German: Herbrig f

• Greek: ξενώνας (el) m (xenónas)
• Hebrew: אַכְסָנִיָּה (he) f (achsanía)
• Hungarian: vendégház (hu), szálló (hu), fogadó (hu)
• Indonesian: losmen (id)
• Italian: ostello (it) m
• Japanese: ホステル (ja) (hosuteru), 寮 (ja) (りょう, ryō), 宿舎 (ja) (しゅくしゃ, shukusha)
• Khmer: ផ្ទះសំណាក់ (phtĕəh sɑmnak)
• Korean: 호스텔 (hoseutel), 기숙사(寄宿舍) (ko) (gisuksa)
• Macedonian: хо́стел m (hóstel)
• Māori: wharepuni
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: please add this translation if you can

• Polish: hostel (pl) m
• Portuguese: albergue (pt) m, estalagem (pt) f
• Romanian: hostel (ro) n
• Russian: общежи́тие (ru) n (obščežítije), турба́за (ru) f (turbáza), хо́стел (ru) m (xóstɛl), хосте́л (ru) m (xostɛ́l), мини-оте́ль (ru) m (mini-otɛ́lʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: ostail f
• Slovak: hostel m
• Spanish: albergue (es) m, parador (es) m, hostal (es) m
• Swahili: hosteli (sw)
• Swedish: vandrarhem (sv) n, pensionat (sv) n, ungkarlshotell (sv) n, härbärge (sv) n
• Tamil: விடுதி (ta) (viṭuti)
• Thai: หอพัก (hɔ̌ɔ-pák)
• Turkish: hostel
• Ukrainian: гурто́житок m (hurtóžytok), го́стел m (hóstel), госте́л m (hostél)
• Vietnamese: nhà nghỉ
• Yoruba: please add this translation if you can

short for youth hostel — see youth hostel

a temporary refuge for the homeless providing a bed and sometimes food

• Armenian: օթեւան (hy) (ōtʻewan)
• Belarusian: прыту́лак m (prytúlak), начле́жка f (načljéžka), прыю́т m (pryjút)
• Bulgarian: прию́т (bg) m (prijút)
• Dutch: hospies n
• Greek: άσυλο (el) n (ásylo)
• Portuguese: albergue (pt) m, abrigo (pt) m
• Russian: прию́т (ru) m (prijút), ночле́жка (ru) f (nočléžka), ночле́жный дом m (nočléžnyj dom)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прѐноћӣште n

  Latin: prènoćīšte n

• Swedish: härbärge (sv) n
• Ukrainian: приту́лок (uk) m (prytúlok), нічлі́жка (uk) f (ničlížka), прию́т (uk) m (pryjút)

place of accommodation for students

• Hindi: छात्रावास (hi) (chātrāvās), हॉस्टल (hŏsṭal)
• Portuguese: lar de estudantes m
• Tamil: விடுதி (ta) (viṭuti), ஹாஸ்டல் (hāsṭal)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Māori: ^{(please verify)} whare noho

See also

• hospice

Verb

hostel (third-person singular simple present hostels, present participle (US) hosteling or (UK) hostelling, simple past and past participle (US) hosteled or (UK) hostelled)

1. (intransitive) To stay in a hostel during one's travels.
2. (transitive) To lodge (a person) in a hostel.

Anagrams

• shotel, Tholes, Esholt, s—thole, Holste, hôtels, helots, tholes, Lhotse, hotels, loseth, Holtes, s--thole, s**thole

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦostl̩]
• IPA^(key): [ˈɦostɛl]

Noun

hostel m inan

1. hostel

Declension

Declension of hostel (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	hostel	hostely
genitive	hostelu	hostelů
dative	hostelu	hostelům
accusative	hostel	hostely
vocative	hostele	hostely
locative	hostelu	hostelech
instrumental	hostelem	hostely

Related terms

• host m

Danish

Etymology

From English hostel.

Noun

hostel n (singular definite hostellet, plural indefinite hostels)

1. hostel

Declension

Declension of hostel

gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	hostel	hostellet	hostels	hostellene
genitive	hostels	hostellets	hostels'	hostellenes

Related terms

• “hostel” in Den Danske Ordbog

See also

• vandrerhjem

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English hostel.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hos‧tel

Noun

hostel n (plural hostels, no diminutive)

1. hostel, youth hostel

   Synonym: jeugdherberg

Indonesian

Etymology

Internationalism.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈhostəl/ [ˈhos.t̪əl]
• Rhymes: -ostəl
• Syllabification: hos‧tel

Noun

hostel (plural hostel-hostel)

1. hostel

Derived terms

• berhostel

• hostel remaja

Further reading

• “hostel”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French hostel, ostel, from Latin hospitāle. Doublet of hospital.

Alternative forms

• hostele, hostell, hostelle, hostil, ostel, ostell, osteyl

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔsˈtɛːl/, /ɔsˈtɛl/, /ˈɔstɛl/

Noun

hostel (plural hosteles)

1. A hostel or guesthouse; accommodation.
2. Fun or diversion; entertaining activities.
3. A dwelling or house; a place of residence.
4. A household; a domestic establishment.
5. The owner or manager of a hostel.

Related terms

• hostelen
• hostelerie
• hostiler

Descendants

• English: hostel (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: hostel
• → Middle Cornish: ostel
  • Cornish: ostel

References

• “hostē̆l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 7 August 2018.

Etymology 2

Verb

hostel

1. alternative form of hostelen

Middle French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Italic *hostipotjālis

Latin hospitālis

Old French ostel

Middle French hostel

From Old French ostel.

Noun

hostel m (plural hostels)

1. shelter; living quarters; place to stay
2. hotel; hostel; inn (establishment offering rooms for hire)

Derived terms

• maistre d'hostel

Descendants

• French: hôtel (see there for further descendants)

Old French

Noun

hostel oblique singular, m (oblique plural hosteaus or hosteax or hostiaus or hostiax or hostels, nominative singular hosteaus or hosteax or hostiaus or hostiax or hostels, nominative plural hostel)

1. alternative form of ostel

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English hostel. Doublet of hotel and szpital.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxɔs.tɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔstɛl
• Syllabification: hos‧tel

Noun

hostel m inan (diminutive hostelik)

1. hostel (a commercial overnight lodging place)
2. hostel (a temporary refuge)

   Synonym: schronisko

Declension

Declension of hostel

	singular	plural
nominative	hostel	hostele
genitive	hostelu	hosteli
dative	hostelowi	hostelom
accusative	hostel	hostele
instrumental	hostelem	hostelami
locative	hostelu	hostelach
vocative	hostelu	hostele

Derived terms

adjective

• hostelowy

Further reading

• hostel in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• hostel in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hostel.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɔs.tew/ [ˈhɔs.teʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɔs.tew/ [ˈhɔs.teʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɔʃ.tew/ [ˈχɔʃ.teʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɔʃ.tɛl/ [ˈɔʃ.tɛɫ], /ɔʃˈtɛl/ [ɔʃˈtɛɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɔʃ.tɛl/ [ˈɔʃ.tɛɫ], /ɔʃˈtɛl/ [ɔʃˈtɛɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɔʃ.tɛl/ [ˈɔʃ.tɛɫ], /ɔʃˈtɛ.li/

Noun

hostel m (plural hostels)

1. hostel

   Synonym: albergue

Further reading

• “hostel”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English hostel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /osˈtel/ [osˈt̪el]
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: hos‧tel

Noun

hostel m (plural hosteles)

1. hostel