Meanings
- USeuphemistichistoricalslanggovernmentHỏa Lò Prison in Vietnam, where prisoners of war were held and tortured.
The Hilton Hanoi Opera hotel has opened, a few blocks from Hoa Lo, the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” where American prisoners were held during the Vietnam War. (The few remaining cells of that prison have been preserved as a museum.)
1999 May 30, Luba Vangelova, “From the Hanoi Hilton To the Hilton Hanoi”, in The New York Times, →ISSN1 more example
Those thoughts sustained him after he was shot down and forced to eject from his F-105 Thunderchief during a bombing mission over North Vietnam on Oct. 27, 1967, and they continued to sustain him in prison camps, including the notorious “Hanoi Hilton,” where he was starved, tortured and subjected to mock executions.
2025 November 19, Jeré Longman, “Robert L. Stirm, Returning P.O.W. in Pulitzer-Winning Photo, Dies at 92”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From Hanoi + Hilton. An alliterative construction, pairing the location Hanoi (metonymically referring to North Vietnam) with a word referring to lodgings. An ironic reference to the Hilton chain of luxury hotels.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Hanoi Hilton. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanoi%20Hilton
“Hanoi Hilton.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanoi%20Hilton. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hanoi Hilton,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanoi%20Hilton.
Source: Hanoi Hilton on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.