Inhospit

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic way of describing a place or person that is unwelcoming, offering no kindness or shelter to visitors
2. Describing something harsh and unfriendly toward guests or strangers, giving them no comfort or welcome
3. Unwelcoming and cold toward those who arrive, whether through a hostile climate or an ungenerous manner

Etymology: The prefix here does not negate. Readers who meet "inhospit" and assume it means the opposite of hospitality will be wrong: it comes from Latin "inhospitare," built from "in-" meaning "in" or "into" and "hospitare," to receive someone as a guest. The verb means to receive or lodge someone hospitably, to take them in. The root is "hospes," a Latin word for both host and guest, which is why the English words "host," "hospitality," and "hospitable" all share a link to the idea of a stranger welcomed under one's roof. "Inhospitable," with its negative prefix, is the familiar cousin that survived in everyday use, while "inhospit" has largely dropped out of the language and now appears mainly in older writing.