hospital

Etymology

A room in a hospital

Borrowing from Old French hospital (Modern French hôpital), from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from noun use of Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”), from hospes (“host, guest”). Doublet of hotel.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒs.pɪ.tl̩/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑs.pɪ.tl̩/, /ˈhɑs.pɪ.t̬l̩/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

hospital (plural hospitals)

1. A large medical facility, usually in a building with multiple floors, where seriously ill or injured patients are given extensive medical and/or surgical treatment.

   Luckily an ambulance arrived quickly and he was rushed to hospital. (UK)

   Luckily an ambulance arrived quickly and he was rushed to the hospital. (US)

2. A building founded for the long-term care of its residents, such as an almshouse. The residents may have no physical ailments, but simply need financial support.
3. (obsolete) A place of lodging.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto IX:

     […] they spide a goodly castle, plast / Foreby a riuer in a pleasaunt dale, / Which choosing for that euenings hospitale, / They thither marcht […]

Adjective

hospital (comparative more hospital, superlative most hospital)

1. (obsolete) Hospitable.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, London: A[ndrew] Millar, OCLC 928184292:

     At last the Ocean, that hospital friend to the wretched, opened her capacious arms to receive him; and he instantly resolved to accept her kind invitation.

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

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”).

Noun

hospital m (plural hospitales)

1. hospital (building)

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), noun use of Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”). Doublet of the inherited hostal.

Noun

hospital m (plural hospitals)

1. hospital

Etymology

Borrowed from English hospital, borrowed from Old French hospital, from Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”), from hospes (“host, guest”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: os‧pi‧tal

Noun

hospital

1. a hospital; a large medical facility, usually in a building with multiple floors, where seriously ill or injured patients are given extensive medical and/or surgical treatment

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospital, guesthouse”), from the neuter form of Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”), from hospes (“host, guest, stranger”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɔspitaːl/, [hɔsb̥iˈtˢæːˀl] or IPA^(key): /hospitaːl/, [hosb̥iˈtˢæːˀl]

Noun

hospital n (singular definite hospitalet, plural indefinite hospitaler)

1. hospital

Noun

hospital m (plural hospitaux)

1. Obsolete spelling of hôpital

Etymology

From Old Portuguese hospital, espital, spital, borrowed from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”).

Noun

hospital m (plural hospitais)

1. hospital

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hos.piˈtal/

Adjective

hospital (comparative plus hospital, superlative le plus hospital)

1. hospitable

Etymology

Borrowed from English hospital, from Old French hospital, from Latin hospitālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɔspital/
• Rhymes: -ital, -tal, -al

Noun

hospital (plural hospital-hospital)

1. hospital (building)

Etymology

From Old French hospital (Modern French hôpital), borrowed from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”) from Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”), from hospes (“host, guest”).

Noun

hospital m (plural hospitaulx)

1. hospital (medical)

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”), from hospes (“host, guest”). Compare the inherited ostel.

Noun

hospital m (oblique plural hospitaus or hospitax or hospitals, nominative singular hospitaus or hospitax or hospitals, nominative plural hospital)

1. hospital (medical)

Adjective

hospital m (oblique and nominative feminine singular hospitale)

1. hospitable; welcoming

Etymology

From Old Portuguese hospital, espital, spital, borrowed from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”). Doublet of the inherited hospedal.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔʃ.piˈtaɫ/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /os.piˈtaw/
• Hyphenation: hos‧pi‧tal

Noun

hospital m (plural hospitais)

1. hospital

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”). Doublet of hostal.

Noun

hospital m (plural hospitales)

1. hospital

Noun

hospital n

1. (archaic, 19th century) mental hospital