Meaning & use
a salon
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Meanings
nouncountable
a business where people go to have their hair, nails, or skin treated
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a salon' or 'two salons'.
Patterns
- a hair salon
- a beauty salon
- go to the salon
She goes to the salon every six weeks to get her hair colored.
There is a new nail salon on the corner of our street.
The salon was busy on Saturday morning.
nouncountableformal
a regular meeting of writers, artists, or thinkers, or the place where they meet
Grammar: Countable and often used in the phrase 'a literary salon'.
Patterns
- a literary salon
- hold a salon
- attend a salon
The famous writer held a salon in her apartment every Thursday.
He was invited to a literary salon where poets read their new work.
Word forms
| plural | salons |
|---|
Common combinations
- hair salon
- I need to find a good hair salon before the wedding.
- beauty salon
- The beauty salon offers facials and massages.
- nail salon
- She spent an hour at the nail salon getting a manicure.
- literary salon
- The literary salon attracted young writers from across the city.
Synonyms and how they differ
- parlor
- In American English, 'beauty parlor' is an older term for a beauty salon; 'salon' is more modern and general.
Word family
- salon noun
- The base form; no common derived words.
Commonly confused: a salon or saloon?
a salon vs saloon
A 'saloon' is a bar or a type of car, not a beauty business. Do not confuse the two spellings.
Practice
Where do you usually go to get a haircut?
Choose one answer.
'Salon' is the correct word for a place where you get your hair cut. 'Saloon' means a bar or a car, so it does not fit here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a salon”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.