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 of chalet

• cottage
• cabin

Examples of chalet in a Sentence

We stayed overnight at a ski chalet.

a mountain chalet for weekend getaways

Recent Examples on the Web

Many big-name executives stay in luxury chalets, marketed as high-end corporate retreats with wellness centers, private gyms, Jacuzzis, full wait staff, and private chefs. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 20 Jan. 2026

The Rooms Evocative of a classic chalet, the 30 rooms and suites are lined in pine with picture windows that frame those quintessential Swiss views of rolling hills, wood-frame farmhouses, and Gonten’s historic church. —Jackie Caradonio, Travel + Leisure, 19 Jan. 2026

There were villas and chateaus and chalets and Fifth Avenue apartments. —Matt Donnelly, Variety, 19 Jan. 2026

Luxury properties—multimillion-dollar chalets and ski-in, ski-out estates—continued to command the lion’s share of transaction dollars, insulated from the affordability crisis squeezing buyers at lower price points. —Sara B. Hansen, Denver Post, 16 Jan. 2026

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

Rhymes for chalet

• airway
• allay
• archway
• array
• ashtray
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway
• beret

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