foyer

See also: Foyer and foþer

English

A foyer in an opera house

Etymology

Borrowed from French foyer (“hearth, lobby”), in turn from Vulgar Latin *focārium, from Late Latin focārius, from Latin focus (“hearth”). Cognate with Spanish hogar (“home”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɪ.eɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɪ.ɝ/, (also) /ˈfɔɪ.eɪ/, /fɔɪˈeɪ/
• (General Australian, Manchester) IPA^(key): /ˈfoɪ.ə/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪə(ɹ)

Noun

foyer (plural foyers)

1. A lobby, corridor, or waiting room, used in a hotel, theater, etc.

   Synonym: entrance hall

   We had a drink in the foyer waiting for the play to start.

   • 2012, Taylor Swift (lyrics and music), “The Lucky One”, in Red (Taylor's Version)‎^[1], published 2021:

     Now it's big black cars and Riviera views / And your lover in the foyer doesn't even know you / And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page

   • 2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation‎^[2], archived from the original on 23 May 2024:

     "He's been waiting to jump my brain-bones since I left R&E. I could feel him hammering on the door." She trotted to the nearest wall and knocked on it for emphasis. "But whatever it is that makes us remember the good old days, it also makes us impossible to possess now. That's why Willie and I both woke up, and why Noè never got taken out by Mukami. So all I had to do was open my mind up to the guy, invite him in, then... gas the foyer, as it were."

2. The crucible or basin in a furnace which receives the molten metal.
3. (UK) A hostel offering accommodation and work opportunities to homeless young people.

Derived terms

• lawyer foyer

Translations

lobby, corridor, or waiting room

• Afrikaans: ingangsportaal, foyer
• Albanian: pojatë f, treme (sq) f
• Arabic: بَهْو m (bahw)
• Armenian: ճեմասրահ (hy) (čemasrah), ֆոյե (hy) (foye)
• Belarusian: фае́ n (fajé)
• Bulgarian: фоайе́ (bg) n (foajé)
• Carpathian Rusyn: фойе́ n (fojé)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 門廳／门厅 (zh) (méntīng), 休息室 (zh) (xiūxishì)

• Czech: foyer (cs) m
• Danish: foyer c
• Dutch: foyer (nl) m
• Finnish: aula (fi), lämpiö (fi)
• French: foyer (fr) m
• Georgian: ფოიე (poie)
• German: Foyer (de) n
• Greek: φουαγιέ (el) n (fouagié)
• Hungarian: előcsarnok (hu), előtér (hu), hall (hu), társalgó (hu)
• Icelandic: anddyri (is) n, forsalur m, forstofa (is) f, fordyri n, forbyrgi n
• Irish: forhalla m
• Italian: ridotto (it) m, foyer (it) m
• Japanese: 玄関 (ja) (genkan)
• Macedonian: фоаје́ n (foajé)
• Maori: roro, tomokanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: foajé (no) m, foaje m

  Nynorsk: foajé m, foaje m

• Polish: foyer (pl) n
• Portuguese: saguão (pt) m
• Russian: фойе́ (ru) n (fojé)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фоа̀је̄ n, предсобље n

  Roman: foàjē (sh) n, predsoblje (sh) n

• Slovak: foyer m or n
• Slovene: foyer m
• Spanish: zaguán (es) m, foyer m
• Swedish: foajé (sv) c, entré (sv) c
• Tagalog: ulutan
• Turkish: fuaye (tr)
• Ukrainian: фойє́ n (fojjé), фоє (uk) n (foje)

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from French foyer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfoajɛː]
• IPA^(key): [ˈfoajɛːr]

Noun

foyer m inan or n

1. theater lobby, foyer

Declension

when masculine:

Declension of foyer (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	foyer	foyery
genitive	foyeru	foyerů
dative	foyeru	foyerům
accusative	foyer	foyery
vocative	foyere	foyery
locative	foyeru	foyerech
instrumental	foyerem	foyery

Indeclinable when neuter.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French foyer, from Middle French [Term?], from Old French foier, from Vulgar Latin *focārium, from Late Latin focārius, from Latin focus (“hearth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʋɑˈjeː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: foy‧er
• Rhymes: -eː

Noun

foyer m (plural foyers, diminutive foyertje n)

1. foyer (lobby, waiting room or parlour)

Related terms

• focus

French

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *focārium, nominalization of the Late Latin adjective focārius, from Latin focus (“hearth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fwa.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

foyer m (plural foyers)

1. hearth
2. lobby, foyer
3. home, domicile
4. household
5. source, centre, seat

Derived terms

• homme au foyer
• femme au foyer

Related terms

• feu

Descendants

• → Crimean Tatar: foye
• → Czech: foyer
• → English: foyer
• → German: Foyer
• → Italian: foyer
• → Norwegian Bokmål: foajé
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: foajé
• → Polish: foyer
• → Russian: фойе́ (fojé) (see there for further descendants)
• → Slovak: foyer
• → Spanish: foyer
• → Serbo-Croatian: foaje
• → Turkish: fuaye

Further reading

• “foyer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Polish

foyer

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French foyer, from Vulgar Latin *focārium, nominalization of the Late Latin adjective focārius, from Latin focus. Doublet of fokus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fwaˈjɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ajɛ
• Syllabification: fo‧yer

Noun

foyer n (indeclinable)

1. foyer (lobby, corridor, or waiting room)

Further reading

• foyer in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• foyer in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Slovak

Etymology

Borrowed from French foyer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔajɛː/

Noun

foyer m inan or n

1. foyer

Usage notes

Indeclineable in the neuter gender.

Declension

Declension of foyer

	singular	plural
nominative	foyer	foyery
genitive	foyeru	foyerov
dative	foyeru	foyerom
accusative	foyer	foyery
locative	foyeri	foyeroch
instrumental	foyerom	foyermi

Further reading

• “foyer”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English foyer or French foyer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fwaˈje/ [fwaˈje]
  • Rhymes: -e

 

• IPA^(key): /foˈʝeɾ/ [foˈʝeɾ]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /foˈʝeɾ/ [foˈʝeɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /foˈʃeɾ/ [foˈʃeɾ]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /foˈʒeɾ/ [foˈʒeɾ]

• • Rhymes: -eɾ
  • Syllabification: fo‧yer

Noun

foyer m (plural foyers or foyer)

1. foyer