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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

hostess.

A female host.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhoʊstɪs/General-American/ˈhəʊstəs/Received-Pronunciation
  1. A female host.

    The host and hostess greeted their guests at the door.
  2. A female innkeeper.

  3. Stewardess: a woman steward on an airplane.

  4. A bar hostess or bargirl; a paid female companion offering conversation and in some cases sex.

  5. A female prostitute.

    Philippines
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hostesse, from Middle French hostesse, from Old French ostesce, made up of oste (“host”) + -esce (“feminine marker”).

verb/ˈhoʊstɪs/General-American/ˈhəʊstəs/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To host, as a woman.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English hostesse, from Middle French hostesse, from Old French ostesce, made up of oste (“host”) + -esce (“feminine marker”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.