hall

The word “hall” means a passage or corridor inside a building. In plain terms, either the corridor in a building or a big room/building used for gatherings.

“Hall” is pronounced hawl (/hɔːl/ in IPA).

Here is “hall” used in a sentence: “Her office is at the end of the hall.”

“Hall” is a noun.

The word “hall” comes from Old English. From Old English heall, an ancient word for a large room or dwelling, related to German Halle and Dutch hal.

“Hall” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Hall” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a passage or corridor inside a building.

Both refer to a passage or corridor inside a building, and in everyday use they overlap. "Hallway" is more common in American English and always means that connecting passage. "Hall" can mean the same thing, but it may also refer to a large room used for gatherings, so context decides the sense.

No. Besides a passage connecting rooms, "hall" can mean a large room or building used for meetings, meals, or events, as in town hall, dining hall, or concert hall. The corridor sense is the everyday one in homes, while the large-room sense appears in public and formal settings.

A foyer is specifically the entrance area just inside a building's main doors, where people arrive, wait, or gather. A hall is the broader passage or corridor linking rooms throughout the building. A foyer can be a kind of entrance hall, but not every hall serves as a foyer.

The narrow space you step into after opening your front door, linking the rooms of a house, is a hall. In larger buildings, the corridors running between offices or classrooms are also halls, guiding people from one area to the next along the length of the building.