SnowGirl
Senior Member
Missouri
English - US
- May 15, 2007
- #1
Hello.
Is there a strong or subtle difference among the words dormitorio, recámara, and habitación? Is there a preference in certain countries for one word in particular?
Also, in the US a dormitory is like a university-owned apartment for students. Are there dormitories on the campuses of universities in other countries?
(In the midwest US many universities are in what we call "college towns", so that the community revolves around the university activities. The "dorms" are where the students can live, especially their first year.)
Thanks for your help and comments.
narhei
Senior Member
Spain, Andalusia
Spanish, Spain
- May 15, 2007
- #2
Dormitorio is a bedroom, the place where to sleep. Habitación is simply room, of any kind. Recámara is the chamber of a gun, I never heard it used to mean a room, although it exists.
narhei
Senior Member
Spain, Andalusia
Spanish, Spain
- May 15, 2007
- #3
About the dormitories, yes there are dormitories in other countries, the word in Spanish is Residencia de estudiantes.
evonde
Member
England
Colombia: Spanish>English>German
- May 15, 2007
- #4
en Colombia, por lo menos en Bogotá, se le dice "cuarto" al dormitorio. Habitación es genérico para cualquier recinto de la casa, menos el baño y la cocina, pero se usa sobre todo en referencia a hoteles. En los avisos de arriendos y ventas de casas, sin embargo, se usa habitación para referirse a los dormitorios.
Los "dorms" de estudiantes se llaman residencias, como en España. Pero también se llaman "residencias" las casa en las que se puede alquilar una habitación. Por extensión, se llaman residencias los hoteles baratos que alquilan habitaciones por horas para parejitas sin mejores recursos.
Como siempre, todo depende de los contextos ;-)
SnowGirl
Senior Member
Missouri
English - US
- May 15, 2007
- #5
I thought that "cuarto" was a word for a room in general. So, is "habitación" used more often than "cuarto"?
narhei
Senior Member
Spain, Andalusia
Spanish, Spain
- May 15, 2007
- #6
Cuarto and habitación are very similar words, as in Colombia, in Spain we use cuarto more often, but they are synonym words.
M
mary queen of fairies
Member
Spanish- Spain
- May 15, 2007
- #7
I usually use the word cuarto when refering to my own room (mi cuarto) but both dormitorio and habitación are correct as well. I think cuarto is more informal
A
Arimomimo
Senior Member
Mexico City
Spanish - Mexico
- May 15, 2007
- #8
SnowGirl said:
Hello.
Is there a strong or subtle difference among the words dormitorio, recámara, and habitación? Is there a preference in certain countries for one word in particular?
Also, in the US a dormitory is like a university-owned apartment for students. Are there dormitories on the campuses of universities in other countries?
(In the midwest US many universities are in what we call "college towns", so that the community revolves around the university activities. The "dorms" are where the students can live, especially their first year.)
Thanks for your help and comments.
In Mexico we call "cuarto" or "recámara" a bedroom, "dormitorio" would be used more as a dorm, and habitación can be any room. "recámara" also means the specific place in a gun where you put the bullets.
SnowGirl
Senior Member
Missouri
English - US
- May 15, 2007
- #9
Narhel, the word "recámara" is used for "bedroom" in the Oxford Picture Dictionary (1998). So, that's why I included that word in my question.
Thank you all for your replies about los dormitorios y las residencias.
benito444
Member
Texas
USA English
- May 30, 2008
- #10
Right now I'm in Oaxaca, Mexico and here they say 'recamara' for bedrooms, at least the bedrooms you'd rent to stay with a mexican family here. So I guess it's not just for gun cases.
L
LDSESP
New Member
English- Australia
- Mar 17, 2009
- #11
i have also heard recamara is used when saying one has a couch for rent? can this be true?
Z
zumac
Senior Member
Mexico City
USA: English & Spanish
- Mar 18, 2009
- #12
Another word for bedroom, which you don't hear much anymore, is "alcoba."
Saludos.
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