hotel [L17th] English adopted the French word hôtel in the mid 17th century. For the first century of its life people used it only in French phrases and to refer to the large town mansions of French aristocrats, but since the mid 18th century the modern sense, ‘a place providing accommodation and meals for paying guests’, has prevailed. The French word was originally spelled hostel, and this older form came into English in the Middle Ages, in the general sense ‘a place to stay’. It was also used for an inn or what we would now call a hotel. The word hostel has since become restricted to places for specific groups of people such as students and migrant workers. The word goes back to Latin hospis (see hospital).