Phrase guide

love hotel

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A short-stay hotel found in Japan and elsewhere, operated primarily for the purpose of allowing lovers privacy to have sexual intercourse.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Phono-semantic matching of Japanese ラブホテル (rabu hoteru), itself a wasei eigo (和製英語; pseudo-anglicism) derived from love + hotel. The term probably makes reference to the rotating sign of the Hotel Love, an early love hotel in Osaka, Japan.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 情侶酒店 /情侣酒店 (qínglǚ jiǔdiàn) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Chinese Mandarin: 愛情旅館 /爱情旅馆 (àiqíng lǚguǎn) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Chinese Mandarin: 情人旅館 /情人旅馆 (qíngrén lǚguǎn) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鐘點房 /钟点房 (zhōngdiǎnfáng) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Dutch: shortstay — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Finnish: tuntihotelli — short-stay hotel for sex
  • French: love hotel — short-stay hotel for sex
  • German: Love Hotel — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Japanese: ラブホテル (rabu hoteru) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Japanese: ラブホ (rabuho) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Japanese: 連れ込み宿 (tsurekomiyado) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Japanese: ブティックホテル (butikku hoteru) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Japanese: ファッションホテル (fasshon hoteru) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Korean: 러브호텔 (reobeuhotel) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Marathi: लव्ह होटेल (lavha hoṭel) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Portuguese: motel — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Russian: любо́вный оте́ль (ljubóvnyj otɛ́lʹ) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Russian: мини-гости́ница (mini-gostínica) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Russian: гости́ница с почасово́й опла́той (gostínica s počasovój oplátoj) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Russian: гости́ница на час (gostínica na čas) — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Spanish: albergue transitorio — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Spanish: telo — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Swedish: kärlekshotell — short-stay hotel for sex
  • Thai: เลิฟโฮเต็ล (lə́əf-hoo-dtel) — short-stay hotel for sex