parlor

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English parlur, also parlour and parlor,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman parlur and parleor,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} modern French parloir,^[4][9][10] from parler (“to speak, talk”).^{[9][11][12][6]} The verb comes from Vulgar Latin *paraulō, from Late Latin parabolō (“to speak in parables”), from parabola (“speech, discourse; comparison”),^[9] borrowed from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “juxtaposition, comparison”), formed from παρά (pará, “beside”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[11] The ending was assimilated to the English suffix -our,^[4][5] and Weekley compares parlatorium and parlatorio.^[10] In Anglo-Norman the word is recorded from 1155 for a room in a convent or monastery where talking was allowed, and also for a private room in a manor house and a judgement hall.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A window or grille through which confession was made, or through which those in a cloister spoke with people outside: in the Ancrene Riwle, which Barnhart dates to probably before 1200,^[3][14] the OED to before 1225,^[15] and Etymonline to about 1200.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories explains that in medieval monasteries, where silence was the rule, one room was set apart in which the monks or nuns could talk with one another or with visitors, and this was the parlor.^[11] Etymonline records the sense of a room in a monastery for talking with outsiders from about 1300.^[9] By Chaucer's time the word had passed to rooms in private houses:^[11] a smaller room apart from the great hall, for private talk, is recorded from 1374,^[15] and the MED has a parlour in a London building document of about 1384 and a paved parlour in Troilus and Criseyde.^[2] Such rooms were often well furnished and were used to receive visitors and for family occasions such as weddings and funerals.^[11] In different parts of England the word also named the inner room of a two-roomed cottage (from 1469),^[15] and in the 16th century it became the ordinary family sitting room.^[9][4] A room in an inn more private than the taproom is recorded from 1870.^[15] In American English the word was applied from 1884 to a shop or business fitted out for customers, as in ice-cream parlor, beauty parlor and funeral parlor;^[3][9][5] a room or building for milking cows followed in the mid-20th century,^[5] and DARE finds dairy parlor and milking parlor especially in the Central Atlantic and North Central states.^[16] As an adjective, parlor came to describe those who profess a cause, especially a radical one, from comfort rather than action, as in parlor socialist (1910 in Barnhart and the OED, by 1900 in Etymonline);^[3][15][9] Tréguer traces parlour patriot back to a letter of Coleridge of 1797.^[17] Weekley noted that something of the original sense survives in Mayor's parlour and banker's parlour.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a window or grille for confession or for speaking with those outside a cloister, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[3][9]
• c. 1300 – a room in a monastery for conversation with outsiders.^[9][3]
• 1374 – a smaller private room apart from the great hall of a house.^[15][3]
• 1469 – the inner room of a two-roomed cottage, in regional English.^[15]
• 1797 – parlour patriot, a patriot only in words.^[17]
• 1868 – parlor car, a railroad car fitted for day travel, in American English.^[3]
• 1870 – a room in an inn more private than the taproom.^[15]
• 1884 – a shop or business, as an ice-cream parlor, in American English.^[3][9]
• 1910 – of people professing views without acting on them, as parlor socialist.^[3][15]
• mid 20th century – a room or building for milking cows.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (old-fashioned) A living room in a private house, especially one kept tidy for receiving guests: They sat stiffly in the front parlor waiting for the minister.^[6][18][5]
2. A room in a convent, monastery or priest's house where residents may talk with each other or with visitors.^[6][18][5]
3. A small private room for guests in an inn or club, away from the public rooms.^[6][15]
4. (chiefly US) A shop or business offering a particular product or service: a tattoo parlor, a pizza parlor.^[6][5][3]
5. A room or building fitted for milking cows; a milking parlor.^[6][5][16]

Adjective

1. Used in or suited to a parlor: a parlor game.^[18][5]
2. (derogatory) Professing a political view, especially a radical one, without acting on it: parlor socialist.^[18][5][3]

Word family

• parlormaid
• beauty parlor
• horse parlor
• massage parlor
• parlor game
• ice-cream parlor
• milking parlor
• parlor car

Related words

• parley
• parlance
• parliament
• parable
• parabola
• palaver
• parole

Usage notes

Parlor is the American spelling, and British English writes parlour.^{[6][18][5][4]} Collins labels the living-room sense old-fashioned, the business sense chiefly American, Canadian and New Zealand, and records a Caribbean sense, a small shop selling cakes and soft drinks.^[6] In East Texas DARE records the pronunciation spelled porler.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
16. ^ a b c Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
17. ^ a b Tréguer, Pascal, Word Histories, wordhistories.net, p. "‘parlour patriot’", 7 May 2021
18. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster