host
/hoʊst/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.77 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.
noun
A person or organization responsible for running an event.
noun
A moderator or master of ceremonies for a performance.
noun
An organism bearing certain genetic material, with respect to its cells.
Example Sentences
- "A good host is always considerate of the guest’s needs."
- "Time is like a fashionable host, / That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand."
- "Our company is host of the annual conference this year."
- "The host was terrible, but the acts themselves were good."
- "Viruses depend on the host that they infect in order to be able to reproduce."
- "A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis Proto-Indo-European *pótis Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis Proto-Italic *hostipotis Latin hospes Old French ostebor. Middle English hoste English host From Middle English hoste, from Old French oste (French: hôte), from Latin hospitem, accusative of hospes (“a host, also a sojourner, visitor, guest; hence, a foreigner, a stranger”), from *hostipotis, an old compound of hostis and the root of potis, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis (“master of guests”), from *gʰóstis (“stranger, guest, enemy”) and *pótis (“owner, master, host, husband”). Used in English since 13th century.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /hoʊst/
- British English: /həʊst/