Meaning & use
hammam
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Meaning
nouncountable
A public bathhouse, traditional in the Middle East and North Africa, where people sit in warm, steamy rooms and wash.
Grammar: Countable: visit a hammam, two hammams.
Patterns
- go to a hammam
- a hammam in somewhere
We spent a relaxing afternoon at a hammam in Marrakech.
The old hammam in the city centre has been open for centuries.
After the long hike, she booked a massage at the hotel hammam.
Word forms
| plural | hammams |
|---|
Common combinations
- visit a hammam
- Tourists often visit a hammam in Istanbul.
- traditional hammam
- The traditional hammam uses marble and hot water.
- hotel hammam
- The hotel hammam is open until ten.
- public hammam
- The public hammam is used by local families.
- hammam treatment
- A hammam treatment includes scrubbing with black soap.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Turkish bath
- Turkish bath is the older English name and suggests the Ottoman style, while hammam is the original word and is used more widely now.
- steam room
- A steam room is any room filled with steam, usually in a gym or spa, but a hammam is a whole traditional bathhouse.
- sauna
- A sauna uses dry heat, typically in Finnish style, while a hammam is moist and steamy.
- bathhouse
- Bathhouse is a general word for any building used for bathing and is less tied to a region.
Word family
Commonly confused: hammam or hammock?
hammam vs hammock
A hammock is a hanging bed of cloth or netting, not a bathhouse.
Practice
In Morocco, Hana relaxed in a steamy ____ and had her skin scrubbed.
Choose one answer.
A hammam is a traditional steam bathhouse. A hammock is a hanging bed, so it cannot be somewhere steamy where you are scrubbed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hammam”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.