booth

See also: Booth

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English bothe, from Old East Norse *bóð, from Proto-Germanic *bōþō, *būþiz, *buþǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-. Compare Middle Low German bôde, Middle Dutch boede, German Bude.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /buːð/, /buːθ/

  • Audio (Southern England); /buːθ/:

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /buθ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /bʉθ/, /bʉð/
• Rhymes: -uːθ, -uːð

Noun

booth (plural booths)

1. A small stall for the display and sale of goods.
2. (dated) A temporary shelter, often in the form of a tent, shed, or canopied structure.
   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 41:

     When Gro came to the Witches’ booths he found them guarded even as the Red Foliot had said, and the booths of them of Demonland in like manner. So went he into the royal booth where the King lay in state on a bier of spear-shafts, robed in his kingly robes over his armour that was painted black and inlaid with gold, and the crown of Witchland on his head.

3. A boxlike room or enclosure just big enough to accommodate one standing person, such as a phone booth or polling booth.
4. An enclosed seating area consisting of a table next to a wall set between two high-backed benches, as in a diner or café.
   • 2025 December 24, Andy Comfort, “Signalling a change in training”, in RAIL, number 1051, page 28:

     Sitting in one of the booths (with table and comfy seats) in the open plan ground floor reception, Network Rail Business Change Manager Sarah Newman explains how NR had been eyeing up the building in late 2024, with work starting on site in August 2025.

5. An enclosure for keeping animals.
6. (hip-hop, slang, with “the”) A recording studio.

Derived terms

• booth babe
• boother
• boothette
• boothless
• boothlike
• boothman
• boothmate
• bothy
• buddy booth
• confession booth
• control booth
• forebooth
• kissing booth
• phone booth
• photo booth
• polling booth
• recording booth
• sound booth
• suicide booth
• telebooth
• telephone booth
• ticket booth
• ticketbooth
• toll booth
• voting booth

Descendants

• → Bengali: বুথ (buth)
• → Japanese: ブース (būsu)
• → Korean: 부스 (buseu)
• ⇒ Scottish Gaelic: bùth
• → Welsh: bwth

Translations

a small stall for the display and sale of goods

• Arabic: كُشْك (kušk)
• Armenian: տաղավար (hy) (taġavar), կրպակ (hy) (krpak)
• Bulgarian: щанд (bg) m (štand), серги́я (bg) f (sergíja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 攤子 / 摊子 (zh) (tānzi), 貨攤 / 货摊 (zh) (huòtān)

• Czech: stánek (cs) m (prodejní (cs), výstavní (cs))
• Danish: bod
• Dutch: stand (nl)
• Esperanto: budo
• Finnish: koju (fi), myyntikoju (fi)
• French: stand (fr) m, échoppe (fr) f
• Galician: estaribel m, telderexo m, chiolo m
• German: Stand (de) m, Messestand m, Bude (de) f
• Hindi: खोखा (hi) m (khokhā), गुमटी (hi) f (gumṭī)
• Hungarian: stand (hu)
• Indonesian: gerai (id), stan (id)
• Irish: both m
• Italian: bancarella (it), stand (it), bugigattolo (it) m
• Japanese: 露店 (ja) (ろてん, roten), 売店 (ja) (ばいてん, baiten), スタンド (ja) (sutando), ブース (ja) (būsu)
• Korean: 부스 (buseu), 점포(店鋪) (ko) (jeompo)
• Latin: pergula f
• Macedonian: бутка f (butka)
• Malay: gerai (ms), reruai (ms), ررواي (ms) (reruai)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bu (no) f

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: غُرْفِه (ġorfe)

• Polish: budka (pl) f
• Portuguese: banca (pt) f
• Romanian: tarabă (ro) f
• Russian: стенд (ru) m (stɛnd)
• Scottish Gaelic: pùball m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: buda f

• Spanish: puesto (es) m, stand (es) m, friquitín m (Caribbean), caseta (es) f
• Turkish: stant (tr) (trade)

an enclosure just big enough to accommodate one standing person — see also stall

• Arabic: حُجَيْرَة (ḥujayra), كَابِينَة f (kābīna)
• Armenian: խցիկ (hy) (xcʻik)
• Belarusian: бу́дка f (búdka), кабі́на f (kabína), кабі́нка f (kabínka)
• Bulgarian: бу́дка (bg) f (búdka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小室 (zh) (xiǎoshì), 亭 (zh) (tíng), 棚 (zh) (péng)

• Czech: budka (cs) f
• Dutch: cabinet (nl)
• Esperanto: budo
• Finnish: koppi (fi)
• French: cabine (fr) f, guérite (fr) f
• Galician: gorita f, garita f, caritel m
• German: Bude (de) f, Zelle (de) f
• Hungarian: fülke (hu)
• Indonesian: bilik (id)
• Irish: both m, bothán m
• Italian: cabina (it) f
• Japanese: ブース (ja) (būsu)
• Korean: 박스 (ko) (bakseu), 부스 (buseu)
• Malay: pondok (ms), petak (ms)
• Māori: wharau, tāwharu
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: باجِه (bâje)

• Portuguese: cabine (pt) f
• Romanian: cabină (ro) f
• Russian: бу́дка (ru) f (búdka), каби́на (ru) f (kabína), каби́нка (ru) f (kabínka)
• Slovak: búdka f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: buda f

• Spanish: cabina (es) f, garita (es) f, caseta (es) f
• Turkish: kulübe (tr), kabin (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: قولبه (kulübe), عریش (ʼariş), باراقه (baraka)

• Ukrainian: бу́дка (uk) f (búdka), кабі́на (uk) f (kabína), кабі́нка (uk) f (kabínka)
• Vietnamese: bốt (vi), buồng (vi)

an enclosed table with seats, as in a diner or café

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 卡位 (kaa¹ wai^6-2)

• Czech: box (cs) m, kóje f
• Finnish: loosi (fi)
• French: box (fr) m
• German: Nische (de) f, Sitznische f, Ecke (de) f, Sitzecke (de) f
• Macedonian: сепаре n (separe)
• Romanian: separeu (ro) n
• Spanish: cabina (es) f, cubículo (es) m, mesa entrecerrada f, mesa entreabierta f mesa de poyo corrido f, mesa con poyete f, mesa de pretil f, mesa entornada f, mesa encajonada f, mesa encuadrada f

See also

• kiosk
• stall
• stand