Meanings
comparative more hospitable · superlative most hospitable
- cordial and generous towards guests
hospitable family
1 more example
"And you come, brother," said Mr. Wegg, in a hospitable glow, "you come like I don't know what—exactly like it—I shouldn't know you from it—shedding a halo all around you."
1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “The Golden Dustman Falls into Worse Company”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, 3rd book (A Long Lane), page 45Synonyms: guestfriendly
- receptive and open-minded
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecordial and generous towards guests
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivedisposed to treat guests and strangers with cordiality and generosity
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinhospitare
- Middle Frenchhospitable
- Englishhospitable
Borrowed from Middle French hospitable, formed from the root of Latin hospitare with the suffix -able. Displaced native Old English cumlīþe (literally “guest-gentle”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek φιλόξενος, εὔξεινος
- φιλόξενος (philóxenos)cordial and generous towards guests
- εὔξεινος (eúxeinos)cordial and generous towards guests
Bulgarian гостоприемен
- гостоприемен (gostopriemen)cordial and generous towards guests
Chinese Cantonese 好客
- 好客 (hou³ haak³)cordial and generous towards guests
Chinese Mandarin 好客
- 好客 (hàokè)cordial and generous towards guests
Czech pohostinný
- pohostinnýcordial and generous towards guests
Danish gæstfri
- gæstfricordial and generous towards guests
Dutch gastvrij
- gastvrijcordial and generous towards guests
Esperanto gastama
- gastamacordial and generous towards guests
Finnish vieraanvarainen
- vieraanvarainencordial and generous towards guests
French hospitalier
- hospitaliercordial and generous towards guests
German gastfreundlich, gastfrei
- gastfreundlichcordial and generous towards guests
- gastfreicordial and generous towards guests
Greek φιλόξενος
- φιλόξενος (filóxenos)cordial and generous towards guests
Hebrew מַכְנִיס אוֹרְחִים
- מַכְנִיס אוֹרְחִים (makhnís-'or'khím)cordial and generous towards guests
Hungarian vendégszerető
- vendégszeretőcordial and generous towards guests
Icelandic gestrisinn
- gestrisinncordial and generous towards guests
Irish aíoch, aíochtach
- aíochcordial and generous towards guests
- aíochtachcordial and generous towards guests
- iostasachcordial and generous towards guests
- gartachcordial and generous towards guests
Italian ospitale
- ospitalecordial and generous towards guests
Japanese もてなしのよい
- もてなしのよい (motenashi no yoi)cordial and generous towards guests
Latin hospitālis
- hospitāliscordial and generous towards guests
Latvian viesmīlīgs
- viesmīlīgscordial and generous towards guests
Māori whakamanuhiri, marae
- whakamanuhiricordial and generous towards guests
- maraecordial and generous towards guests
- manaakicordial and generous towards guests
Norwegian gjestfri
- gjestfricordial and generous towards guests
Polish gościnny
- gościnnycordial and generous towards guests
Portuguese hospitaleiro, hospitaleiro
- hospitaleirocordial and generous towards guests
- hospitaleiroreceptive and open-minded
Russian гостеприи́мный, раду́шный
- гостеприи́мный (gostepriímnyj)cordial and generous towards guests
- раду́шный (radúšnyj)cordial and generous towards guests
- откры́тый (otkrýtyj)receptive and open-minded
- непредвзя́тый (nepredvzjátyj)receptive and open-minded
- непредубеждённый (nepredubeždjónnyj)receptive and open-minded
Slovak pohostinný
- pohostinnýcordial and generous towards guests
Spanish hospitalario, hospitable
- hospitalariocordial and generous towards guests
- hospitablecordial and generous towards guests
Swedish gästfri, gästvänlig
- gästfricordial and generous towards guests
- gästvänligcordial and generous towards guests
Turkish konuksever, misafirperver
- konuksevercordial and generous towards guests
- misafirpervercordial and generous towards guests
Ukrainian гости́нний, сприйнятливий
- гости́нний (hostýnnyj)cordial and generous towards guests
- сприйнятливий (spryynyatlyvyy)receptive and open-minded
Vietnamese hiếu khách, lịch thiệp
- hiếu kháchcordial and generous towards guests
- lịch thiệpcordial and generous towards guests
Yiddish מכניס־אורחים, גאַסטפֿרײַנדלעך
- מכניס־אורחים (makhnis-orkhim)cordial and generous towards guests
- גאַסטפֿרײַנדלעך (gastfrayndlekh)cordial and generous towards guests
Cite this entry
hospitable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hospitable
“hospitable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hospitable. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hospitable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hospitable.
Source: hospitable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.