foyer

Etymology

It is borrowed from French foyer (“hearth, home; green room”),^[2][3][4][5] from Old French foier (“furnace, stove, hearth, fireplace”),^[2][6] from Vulgar Latin *focārium,^[6][5] the noun use of the neuter of focārius (“of the hearth”),^[2][6][7] from focus (“hearth, fireplace”).^[2][6][4][7] Barnhart notes that focārius is attested only as a noun for a kitchen servant.^[8] Merriam-Webster and Collins trace it instead to a Medieval Latin noun focārius, fireplace.^[9][10] The OED treats it in a note on the English noun focus, observing that French foyer shows a similar range of senses.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A centre of attention or activity: late 18th century.^[12][13][3] Merriam-Webster dates the lobby sense to 1833,^[9] Etymonline and Barnhart to 1859,^[2][8] and Dictionary.com to 1855–60.^[14]

Semantic evolution

In French the word was used in the theatre for the green room, where actors waited when not on stage,^[2][8][5] and, according to Dictionary.com, for a room where the audience went to get warm between the acts.^[14] In English it became the large room of a theatre or concert hall used by the audience in the intervals, and then the entrance hall of a hotel or other public building,^[3][2] and in American use also the entrance hall of a house or flat.^[9][14] In Britain a foyer is now also a centre that gives homeless young people a place to live and job training.^[10]

Timeline

• late 18th century – a centre of attention or activity.^[12][3]
• 1833 – a lobby, especially of a theatre.^[9] Etymonline and Barnhart date the sense to 1859.^[2][8]
• mid 19th century – the entrance hall of a hotel or other public building.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lobby or anteroom of a theatre, hotel, library or other public building, where people meet or wait.^[9][10]
2. An entrance hall or vestibule of a house or flat.^[9][14]
3. (Britain) A centre offering homeless young people accommodation and training for work.^[10]
4. A centre or focal point.^[9][3]

Related words

• focus
• focal
• greenroom

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House