Vestibule

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈvɛ.stɪ.bjuːl/

Definitions

1. An entrance hall or passage between the outer door and the interior of a building
2. A small transitional space or corridor that connects an external entrance with the main interior of a structure
3. An intermediate chamber or hallway serving as a buffer zone between outside and the principal rooms within a building
4. A small entrance chamber or corridor that connects an external doorway to the main interior space of a structure
5. An intermediate passageway or antechamber situated between an outside entrance and the principal rooms within a building

Etymology: The Romans had a practical name for the space in front of a grand house: "vestibulum," an entrance court where visitors waited before being admitted. Its roots are less glamorous than its later life suggests. It combines "vestiō," meaning "to dress" or "clothe," with "-bulum," a suffix marking a place, so the original sense is roughly a place for putting on clothing or a spot where one is dressed for entry. Scholars debate exactly how the word came to mean an entrance court, so the link between "dressing" and "forecourt" is worth treating with some caution. English borrowed the word from French "vestibule," which itself came from Latin, in the early 1600s. It was taken over with its architectural meaning intact, a hall or passage leading into a building, and it has stayed there ever since. Because English received it through French rather than directly from Latin, the word is a doublet of "vestibulum," meaning the two forms descend from the same source but arrived by different routes.

Synonyms: entrance, hall, anterior