chalet

noun

cha·​let sha-ˈlā 

ˈsha-(ˌ)lā

1

: a remote herdsman's hut in the Alps

2

a

: a Swiss dwelling with unconcealed structural members and a wide overhang at the front and sides

b

: a cottage or house in chalet style

Illustration of chalet

• chalet 2a

Synonyms

• bach [New Zealand]
• cabin
• camp
• cottage
• lodge

Examples of chalet in a Sentence

We stayed overnight at a ski chalet.

a mountain chalet for weekend getaways

Recent Examples on the Web

Comfy chalets and a chic campsite nestled among cabernet vineyards create a magical setting with twinkling lights, crackling fire pits, and beautifully decorated trees. —Keyla Vasconcellos, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024

The cover story, on an exceptional compound of chalets in Gstaad, Switzerland, involved an international list of luminaries, including AD100 Hall of Famer Francis Kéré and AD100 landscape architect Sara Zewde. —Amy Astley, Architectural Digest, 4 Dec. 2024

When: Ends December 23 What to Expect: In Basel, around 155 rustic wooden chalets are set against the backdrop of the city’s old town, set aglow with glittering lights. —Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 20 Nov. 2024

Folks in Colorado had loftier ambitions of owning a luxury ski chalet in Aspen, according to MarketBeat.com, while Oregon residents were content with owning an eco-friendly coffee shop in the heart of Portland. —Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 2 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, borrowed from Franco-Provençal of Switzerland (and adjacent Alpine regions of France and Italy) tsalẹ̀, tchalè "cabin in upland summer pastures used as a residence and for processing milk into butter and cheese, pasture in the vicinity of such a structure," from tsal-, tchal-, stem probably meaning "shelter" seen as an underived noun in Old Occitan cala "cove, inlet" (also in Spanish & Catalan, and as a loanword from Spanish in Italian & Portuguese, probably a borrowing from a western Mediterranean substratal language) + -ẹ̀, -è -et entry 1

Note: A display of the variants found in Franco-Provençal of Switzerland can be seen in Glossaire des patois de la Suisse romande (tome 3, p. 270). The word occurs as chaletus in Latin documents from present-day Vaud canton beginning in the fourteenth century. As chalet the word is first attested in metropolitan French in 1723; it received wide circulation through its use in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's novel Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse (1761).

First Known Use

1782, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

chalet

noun

cha·​let sha-ˈlā 

ˈshal-ˌā

1

: a herdsman's hut in the Alps away from a town or village

2

a

: a Swiss dwelling with a roof that sticks far out past the walls

b

: a cottage built to look like a chalet