caravanserai
Meanings
Plural: caravanserais
Noun
- an inn in some eastern countries with a large courtyard that provides accommodation for caravans
- A roadside inn, usually having a central courtyard where caravans (see sense 3) can rest, providing accommodation for travellers along trade routes in Asia and North Africa.
- A place resembling a caravanserai (sense 1) as being a place for resting temporarily, or a meeting place (especially one that is busy, or where people of different cultures encounter each other).
- Synonym of caravan (“a convoy of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and pack animals”).
- A hostelry, an inn; also (humorous), an (upscale) hotel.
Origin / Etymology
Borrowed either:
* from Middle French carvansera, carvassera (modern French caravansérail, carauanserrail (obsolete), caravansara (obsolete)); or
* directly from its etymon Ottoman Turkish كاروانسَرای (karvanseray), كَروانسَرای (kervanseray) (modern Turkish kervansaray), from Old Anatolian Turkish [script needed] (kārvān-serā); or
* directly from its etymon Persian کاروانسرای (kârvânsarây), from کاروان (kârvân, “caravan; convoy”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“army”)) + سرای (sarây, “courtyard, hall; dwelling, house; inn; mansion, palace”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- (“to cross over; to pass through; to overcome”).
Cognates
* Dutch karavanserai, carewansera (obsolete)
* German Karawanserei, Caravansera (obsolete)
* Italian caravanserraglio, carvasarà (obsolete), carvanserà (obsolete)
* Portuguese caravançará, caravançarai
* Spanish caravasar
Synonyms
caravan, caravan inn, caravansary, khan, lodging place
Scrabble Score: 17
caravanserai is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordcaravanserai is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
caravanserai is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary