caravanserai

Meanings

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. Synonym of caravan (“a convoy of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and pack animals”).
4. A hostelry, an inn; also (humorous), an (upscale) hotel.

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