Other forms: hostesses
A hostess is a woman who receives and looks after guests. The perfect hostess, thank the hostess, a hostess trolley.
The -ess ending is falling out of use and host now covers everybody, which is the direction most such words have gone. Air hostess became flight attendant for the same reason. In some contexts hostess names a paid companion in a bar, which the word carries carefully.
1nounhostessA woman who receives and looks after guests.
“Our hostess greeted us at the door and took our coats.”
hostess is a person.
Old French ostesse is host plus a feminine ending. Host comes from Latin hospes, a guest or host.
Old French
ostesce
Middle French
hostesse
Middle English
hostesse
English, today
hostess
Built from
From Middle English hostesse, from Middle French hostesse, from Old French ostesce, made up of oste (“host”) + -esce (“feminine marker”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA