Etymologically
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hospital

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈhɒs.pɪ.təl/, US /ˈhɑː.spɪ.t̬əl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hospital, borrowed from Old French hospital (“hostel, shelter, lodging”), also ospital,[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin hospitāle (“guesthouse, inn”),[2][5][3] the noun use of the neuter of Latin hospitālis (“of a guest or host”),[2][5] from hospes (“guest; host”), genitive hospitis,[2][5] the source of host.[2][6][7] The shift in Latin from the duties of hospitality to buildings may have been through the phrase cubiculum hospitālis “guest-chamber”.[2] The same word, contracted, is hostel and hotel.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A house for the reception of pilgrims and travellers, a hospice: about 1300,[8][3] or the mid-13th century, “shelter for the needy”.[2] Barnhart finds it earlier in the place name Ospitol, 1242–43.[3]

Semantic evolution

A charitable institution to house and maintain the needy is from the early 15th century[2] or 1418.[8] An institution for the care of the sick or wounded is from about 1425 in the OED[8] and by the 1540s in Etymonline;[2] Hoad dates it to the 16th century.[9] A school for the education of the young, as in the names of some British schools, is from 1552,[8] and a hospital for animals from 1613.[8] In hospital, “under treatment in a hospital”, is from 1844.[8] The American Heritage Dictionary also records the sense “a repair shop”, as in a doll hospital.[10]

Timeline

  • 1242–43 – in a place name.[3]
  • c. 1300 – a hostel for pilgrims.[8]
  • 1418 – a charitable home for the needy.[8]
  • c. 1425 – an institution for the sick.[8]
  • 1552 – a charitable school.[8]
  • 1844 – in hospital.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An institution that gives medical and surgical care to the sick and injured.
  2. (historical) A charitable home, as for the old or for orphans.
  3. A repair shop for particular items.
  4. (historical) A hospice for travellers or pilgrims.

Word family

  • hospitalman
  • hospitalise
  • hospitalism
  • hospitalization
  • hospitalize
  • multihospital
  • posthospital
  • field hospital
  • hospice
  • hospitable
  • hospitality
  • hospitaller
  • host
  • hostel
  • hotel
  • hostess

Usage notes

An obsolete adjective hospital, “hospitable”, from Latin hospitālis, was used from late Middle English to the early 19th century, as in hospital Jove, protector of guests.[4][8] In Old French ospital could also mean “hospitable”.[2]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin