hall

English Online Dictionary. What means hall‎? What does hall mean?

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English halle, from Old English heall (“hall, dwelling, house; palace, temple; law-court”), from Proto-West Germanic *hallu, from Proto-Germanic *hallō (“hall”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide, conceal”).

Cognate with Scots hall, haw (“hall”), Dutch hal (“hall”), German Halle (“hall”), Norwegian hall (“hall”), Swedish hall (“hall”), Icelandic höll (“palace”), Latin cella (“room, cell”), Sanskrit शाला (śā́lā, “house, mansion, hall”). Doublet of cell and cella.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hɔːl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /hɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /hɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Homophone: haul

Noun

hall (plural halls)

1. A corridor; a hallway.
2. A large meeting room.

3. A manor house (originally because a magistrate's court was held in the hall of his mansion).
4. A building providing student accommodation at a university.

5. The principal room of a secular medieval building.
6. (obsolete) Cleared passageway through a crowd, as for dancing.
7. A place for special professional education, or for conferring professional degrees or licences.

   a Divinity Hall; Apothecaries' Hall

8. (India) A living room.
9. (Oxbridge) A college's canteen, which is often but not always coterminous with a traditional hall.
10. (Oxbridge slang) A meal served and eaten at a college's hall.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Greek: χολ (chol), χωλ (chol), χωλλ (choll)
• → Japanese: ホール (hōru)
• → Korean: 홀 (hol)
• → Russian: холл (xoll)

Translations

Albanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaɫ/
• Rhymes: -aɫ

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish حال (hal, “situation; grief”).

Noun

hall m (plural halle) (colloquial)

1. difficult situation, difficulty, trouble, misery, plight

   Synonyms: ngushticë, mundim, nevojë

2. concern, vexing issue

   Synonym: shqetësim

Derived terms

Adverb

hall (colloquial)

1. badly, wrongly

   Synonym: keq

   hall kështu, hall ashtu. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

References

• “hall”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎^[1] (in Albanian), 1980, page 643ab
• Bufli, G., Rocchi, L. (2021) “hall¹”, in A historical-etymological dictionary of Turkisms in Albanian (1555–1954), Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, page 184f.
• Mann, S. E. (1948) “hall”, in An Historical Albanian–English Dictionary, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 153a
• Meyer, G. (1891) “hał”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch der albanesischen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the Albanian Language] (in German), Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, page 145

Further reading

• Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “hall”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 141f.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish حل (hal, “solution”).

Noun

hall m (plural halle) (colloquial)

1. solution, way out

   Synonyms: zgjidhje, rrugëdalje

References

• “hall”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎^[2] (in Albanian), 1980, page 643ab
• Bufli, G., Rocchi, L. (2021) “hall²”, in A historical-etymological dictionary of Turkisms in Albanian (1555–1954), Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, page 185

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English hall.

Pronunciation

Noun

hall

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) assembly hall; auditorium
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) residence hall; dormitory

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English hall. Doublet of hal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [hɒːl]

Noun

hall c (singular definite hallen, plural indefinite haller)

1. hall (a corridor or a hallway)

Inflection

East Central German

Etymology

Compare German hell.

Adjective

hall

1. (Erzgebirgisch) clear, bright, light

References

• 2004 Karl Heinz Schmidt, Ich putz mein Christbaam aa, P. 14

Further reading

Estonian

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Finnic *halla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑlː/, [ˈ(h)ɑlː]

Noun

hall (genitive halla, partitive halla)

1. frost

Declension

Etymology 2

Inherited from Proto-Finnic *halli (compare Finnish halli), from Balto-Slavic. Compare Latvian salnis, Lithuanian šalnis (“off-white, roan”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑlʲː/, [ˈ(h)ɑlʲː]

Adjective

hall (genitive halli, partitive halli, comparative hallim, superlative kõige hallim)

1. grey (color)

Declension

Derived terms

• hallitama

See also

Etymology 3

German Halle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑlʲː/, [ˈ(h)ɑlʲː]

Noun

hall (genitive halli, partitive halli)

1. hall (a large room or building)

Declension

Further reading

• hall in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English hall.

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /ol/

Noun

hall m (plural halls)

1. hall
2. lobby

Further reading

• “hall”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hal/
• Rhymes: -al

Verb

hall

1. singular imperative of hallen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of hallen

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɒlː]
• Rhymes: -ɒlː

Etymology 1

From the conflation of Proto-Uralic *kontale- (compare Old Hungarian hadl (“hear”), Northern Mansi хӯнтлуӈкве (hūntluňkwe), Finnish kuunnella) and Proto-Uralic *kule- (compare Northern Mansi хӯлуӈкве (hūluňkwe) and Finnish kuulla).

Verb

hall

2. (intransitive) to hear (to perceive sounds through the ear)
3. (transitive) to hear (to perceive with the ear)

   Hallottam egy hangot a szobából. ― I heard a sound from the room.

Usage notes

This verb is a member of one of those (few) quasi-homonymous verb pairs that exist both with and without an -ik ending. All (intransitive) suffixed forms of these pairs are identical (sometimes they can even have derived forms that coincide), with the exception of their dictionary form (the third-person singular indicative present, with or without -ik). However, the meaning of these pairs is usually distinct, sometimes unrelated. Examples include (fel)áldoz–(le)áldozik, bán–bánik, (meg)bíz–(meg)bízik, ér–érik, esz (rare)–eszik, hajol–hajlik, (felül)múl–(el)múlik, (hozzá)nyúl–nyúlik, (el)vesz–(el)veszik~(el)vész, and tör–törik (along with their verbal prefixes), hall–hallik (archaic), érez–érzik (archaic), sometimes with some difference: (el)hibáz–hibádzik, (le)torkol–torkollik. Therefore one may well need to check the context and the arguments to ascertain which member of the verb pair is relevant.

Conjugation

Derived terms

(With verbal prefixes):

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German Halle.

Noun

hall (plural hallok)

2. middle-sized, windowless room, entryway, hallway (in a private flat/apartment, with a size not smaller than 8 m² [86 sq ft], with space for people, but without affording them privacy due to its being an entry to other rooms)

   Synonym: előtér

   Coordinate terms: szoba, helyiség, félszoba, alkóv, gardrób, előszoba, hálószoba, nappali

3. lobby, foyer, lounge (e.g. in a hotel or an opera house)

   Synonyms: társalgó, előcsarnok

Declension

Derived terms

References

Further reading

• (to hear): hall in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• (entryway): hall in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Ludian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Finnic *halla, borrowed from Baltic. Cognates include Finnish halla.

Noun

hall

1. frost

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Derived from Old Norse hǫll.

Noun

hall m (definite singular hallen, indefinite plural haller, definite plural hallene)

1. hall (a building or very large room)

Derived terms

References

• “hall” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɑlː/

Etymology 1

Derived from Old Norse hǫll. Akin to English hall.

Noun

hall m (definite singular hallen, indefinite plural hallar, definite plural hallane)
hall f (definite singular halla, indefinite plural haller, definite plural hallene)

1. hall (a building or very large room)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Derived from Old Norse hallr.

Noun

hall n (definite singular hallet, indefinite plural hall, definite plural halla)

1. slope, sloping terrain

Derived terms

References

• “hall” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hall.

Pronunciation

Noun

hall m (plural halls)

1. (architecture) lobby; entrance hall (a room in a building used for entry from the outside)

   Synonyms: átrio, entrada

Derived terms

• hall da fama

Romanian

Noun

hall n (plural halluri)

1. Obsolete form of hol.

Declension

References

• hall in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hall.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxol/ [ˈxol]
• Rhymes: -ol

Noun

hall m (plural halls)

1. hall, lobby, lounge

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “hall”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse hǫll, from Proto-Germanic *hallō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-. Compare English hall. Related to Latin cella and English cellar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hal/

Noun

hall c

1. hallway
2. lounge
3. corridor
4. entryway
5. short for any of the words:
   • simhall
   • ishall
   • sporthall
   • verkstadshall
   • mässhall

Usage notes

Most commonly refers to a small room just inside the front door of a residential building, where shoes and outerwear are taken off or put on.

Declension

References