Hospitable means welcoming and generous to guests. A hospitable host, hospitable people, a hospitable climate.
Of people it means making guests comfortable, and hospitality as a duty to strangers is a strong tradition in many cultures. Of a place or a climate it means fit to live in — a hospitable environment — and inhospitable is much the commoner of the two. Note the stress, which properly falls on the second syllable; and that hospitable, hospital, hotel and hostel are all the same word.
1adjectivehospitableWelcoming and generous to guests.
“The villagers were very hospitable and invited us into their homes for tea.”
2adjectivefitFit to live in, of a place.
“Mars is far less hospitable than Earth, with thin air and freezing nights.”
hospitable is a quality of welcome.
Latin hospitare comes from hospes, a guest or host. Hospital, hostel, hotel and host come from the same word, and it displaced the Old English cumlithe.
Latin
hospitare
Middle French
hospitable
English, today
hospitable
Borrowed from Middle French hospitable, formed from the root of Latin hospitare with the suffix -able. Displaced native cumlīþe.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA