zaguán

From Andalusian Arabic إِسْطِوَان (ʔisṭiwān), from Arabic أُسْطُوَانَة (ʔusṭuwāna, “pillar”).

• IPA^(key): /θaˈɡwan/ [θaˈɣ̞wãn] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /saˈɡwan/ [saˈɣ̞wãn] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: za‧guán

zaguán m (plural zaguanes)

1. vestibule; front hall or entryway; foyer
   • 1956 [1944], Jorge Luis Borges, “La biblioteca de Babel”, in Ficciones, Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan, page 85:

     Una de las caras libres da a un angosto zaguán, que desemboca en otra galería, idéntica a la primera y a todas. A izquierda y a derecha del zaguán hay dos gabinetes minúsculos.

     One of the free plots faces a narrow vestibule, which leads into another gallery, identical to the first one and to all of them. To the left and right of the vestibule there are two little cabinets.

   • 1997, Roberto Bolaño, “La nieve”, in Llamadas telefónicas [Last Evenings on Earth]:

     Solo encontré borrachos que me ignoraron y sombras que al pasar se ocultaban en los inmensos zaguanes de la avenida Medvedsita.

     I only found drunkards who ignored me and shadows that hid in the huge hallways of Medvedsita Avenue as they passed.

2. (Mexico) gate protecting a front yard or patio

   Synonym: portón

• → Portuguese: saguão

• “zaguán”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024