dancehall

D2A1N1C3E1H4A1L1L1
/ˈdɑːnsˌhɔːl/

noun

A public hall for dancing.

Less commonScrabble 15
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

noundancehall (countable and uncountable, plural dancehalls)

plural dancehalls · alternative dance hall · alternative dance-hall

  1. countableA public hall for dancing.

    Six years later there were barely any dancehalls to supervise—it was all glitzy discos attached to pubs.

    2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 125
  2. uncountableentertainmentA genre of Jamaican dance music derived from dub and reggae.

    It sounded Jamaican to me, a form of dancehall, and […] I wandered over and watched the dancing.

    2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 271

Origin

From dance + hall.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic قَاعَةُ رَقْص
  • قَاعَةُ رَقْص (qāʕatu raqṣ)public hall for dancing
Bulgarian да́нсинг, та́нцова за́ла
  • да́нсинг (dánsing)public hall for dancing
  • та́нцова за́ла (táncova zála)public hall for dancing
Chinese Mandarin 舞廳 /舞厅, 舞蹈場 /舞蹈场
  • 舞廳 /舞厅 (wǔtīng)public hall for dancing
  • 舞蹈場 /舞蹈场 (wǔdǎochǎng)public hall for dancing
Czech taneční sál
  • taneční sálpublic hall for dancing
Dutch danszaal
  • danszaalpublic hall for dancing
Finnish tanssisali
  • tanssisalipublic hall for dancing
French salle de danse
  • salle de dansepublic hall for dancing
German Tanzsaal
  • Tanzsaalpublic hall for dancing
Irish halla damhsa, halla rince
  • halla damhsapublic hall for dancing
  • halla rincepublic hall for dancing
Italian sala da ballo, balera
  • sala da ballopublic hall for dancing
  • balerapublic hall for dancing
Japanese ダンスホール, 踊り場
  • ダンスホール (dansuhōru)public hall for dancing
  • 踊り場 (odoriba)public hall for dancing
  • 舞踏場 (butōjō)public hall for dancing
Korean 댄스홀, 무도장
  • 댄스홀 (daenseuhol)public hall for dancing
  • 무도장 (mudojang)public hall for dancing
Māori whare kanikani
  • whare kanikanipublic hall for dancing
Polish dansing, sala taneczna
  • dansingpublic hall for dancing
  • sala tanecznapublic hall for dancing
Portuguese salão de dança
  • salão de dançapublic hall for dancing
Romanian sală de dans
  • sală de danspublic hall for dancing
Russian танцева́льный зал, да́нсинг
  • танцева́льный зал (tanceválʹnyj zal)public hall for dancing
  • да́нсинг (dánsing)public hall for dancing
Tagalog bahay-sayawan
  • bahay-sayawanpublic hall for dancing
Turkish dans salonu
  • dans salonupublic hall for dancing
Cite this entry
APA

dancehall. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dancehall

MLA

“dancehall.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dancehall. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dancehall,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dancehall.

Source: dancehall on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.