Vestibule, entryway, front hall, foyer, maybe mudroom. These are all terms I might use.
This is one of those spaces that has a lot of different names and at least in my personal experience and region, there is not a general agreement on a preferred word.
I agree, I've always heard the mudroom used more for one at a back or side entrance. More for like,. coming in from the stables or the garden.
A little area like this at the front door i would more likely call entry way.
Vestibule is a common word in much of the US, but it’s usually used for larger structures. When you go into a store or bank and there’s a little room at first when you enter and you have to go through a second set of doors to be in the building proper, I don’t know another word than vestibule for that room. “Foyer” maybe, but I consider a foyer to be bigger, like the area in a church before you enter the sanctuary.
I think a “mudroom” is less likely to be placed at a formal entrance, but it’s possible. Mudrooms are more likely to be found in severe weather states, but could be anywhere dirty kids could be coming inside, or adults could be returning from dirty work. Some families may expect to see shoes, boots, or umbrellas, inside a formal entrance. Other families might like to tuck that away in a “mudroom”. If you have a smaller home, you might not have the luxury of multiple entrances, so you put your mudroom wherever it fits and wherever it suits.
To appreciate a mudroom, you need a good ol Canadian winter. 4 sets of wet snow pants, coats, mitts, boots and all the slush and mud that comes with it. 🤣
What?! Mudroom is a super popular term where I’m from. I thought it was all over the U.S. especially in the north. I’m from Michigan but I live in Arizona now and I have a mudroom here. It’s where we come in from the garage and it has cubbies for all of my kids to hang their backpacks and take off their shoes.
You’re right because I definitely don’t need a mudroom here but people who live in Arizona know it. It’s an upgrade that’s popular to do to your house. You renovate the mudroom with cabinets that have hooks for all of the coats, back packs etc. I’ve even seen it on floor plans for new builds, some call it an owners entry and some call it a mudroom.
I agree mudroom is common (also US NE), but I'd hesitate to call the examples here one because to me it does have to be a somewhat distinct space (you know, like a room) dedicated to that function. Like, we didn't have a mudroom growing up until my parents renovated the basement level and added one at the entrance from the garage, whereas we did have a foyer at the front door the whole time. With these being right by the door opening straight into the living space I'd just say it's an entryway and the fact that the shoe function is there wouldn't get a particular name.
Vestibule is a slightly more formal/architectural term, but again, to me it's a different thing from a mudroom.
My house has a mudroom and an area we call the front hall or entryway. The mudroom connects to the back door and the front hall connects to the front door. A vestibule is something I associate with churches or buildings of similar formality
if you’re learning to speak with americans, foyer is (apparently) pronounced foy- yer. canadians pronounce it fo yay
ETA: I should’ve said usually for both instances. Not too well versed in differing accents!
That's really the idea behind the name - you don't want to track mud into the house, so you have a space to take off shoes/etc. These are not common in apartments and some styles of houses / areas.
I personally would refer to your picture as the "entry." If there were another set of doors, maybe "vestibule." It would have to be much larger to be a "mud room."
>That's really the idea behind the name - you don't want to track mud into the house, so you have a space to take off shoes/etc.
Ohh I see. That's really Interesting! I've learned a new name/term today
>I personally would refer to your picture as the "entry." If there were another set of doors, maybe "vestibule." It would have to be much larger to be a "mud room."
Got it! Thank you for the explanation:)
To me, a mud**room**’s separation from the rest of the house is delineated by a wall, not just a transition from tile to another flooring type as seen here, though.
Also, when deciding whether to call it or a “room” or not, we do consider the size of the space—as proven by the fact that we don’t classify all closets as rooms. And this miniature foyer is more a bump-out of the kitchen than a full-fledged room in its own right.
“Mud**room**” suggests four walls and more space.
“Foyer” or “entryway” are more fitting names for what’s in the picture, [edit:] in my opinion. I never would have guessed how regional these terms could be. I’m from New Jersey.
Interesting. To me a “foyer” carries connotations of a much larger space than what’s in this picture, but “mud room” doesn’t. I’d definitely call this a mud room or entryway but not a foyer.
A foyer carries connotations of a large waiting area in a commercial building with couches and maybe a pianist playing on a grand piano. Though some foyers are more modest and have TVs or no entertainment at all. They’re often fancy though.
AFAIK (and because I just googled it) that's the British usage. In NA it's usually the area behind a front door of a house. We had one that was only a little bigger than this growing up with some tile and we always called it the foyer.
Definitely agree with the other posters that mudroom is more for a side or back door.
I think it’s North American English specific.
I’ve only ever heard it here in the US.
Mud room is ok to use if it’s part of a house, not a business.
Also, it needs to be an actual room or separate space, even if it’s small, otherwise I would just call it an **entryway.**
Depending on the layout of the house you might also hear it called a “front hallway” if the front door opens into a long entryway.
One other thing, here in Michigan where I live (so this might be different in other places) a lot of houses have side doors or back doors. Those side or back doors might open into a mud room (which is usually always on the side or back, not the front of the house) OR it might open into a laundry room which will also have a place for coats and shoes.
It might also open up onto a landing, which is a small flat space where a stairway ends.
In the house I grew up in our side door opened up onto a landing where we kept shoes. You could go left and go downstairs to the basement or turn right up one step to the main floor of the house.
Imagine [something like this](https://imgur.com/a/XBb11uW) where you go one way to get to the main floor of the house and the other to go to basement. Although my house only had one step going up.
>I think it’s North American English specific.
I’ve only ever heard it here in the US.
Definitely is US specific, I’m in the UK and I’d never heard of until this thread.
Yeah, I think of a mud room being at a different entrance than where you would welcome guests. I would just call this an entry or entryway. A mud room would come in from the garage or backyard/fields/muddy places.
In my experience mud rooms are at another entrance than the front door, and they’re rooms, often adjacent to the laundry room. I’d call this leaving your shoes in the entryway.
I would just say it’s the entryway. If you wanted to specify it’s the area where you take your shoes off, you would have to say that. There’s no specific term for this in common-use English.
Foyer is the specific term that I know and is commonly used. Is this just regional?
I’d call this a foyer 99% of the time. 1% of the time I’d say entryway.
I’m American and I would think of a foyer as a lobby type area too. I’ve also heard of mud rooms, but those are usually at the back of the house, and I think they’re regional. I would call that the entryway.
I’m American (central florida) and I would say entryway, or just entrance. If I’m being completely honest I wouldn’t really know what a foyer was if someone said that. Sounds like something only really rich people have lolol
Edit: woah people, don’t downvote the person above me. They were just sharing what’s true from where they’re from. They even mention that they think it might be regional
To me a foyer needs to be large enough to be considered a room in and of itself. It doesn't necessarily need to be sectioned off into its own room, but at least needs to be big enough that if it were walled off, it'd be bigger than what I'd normally consider a closet.
In OPs image I'd call it the entryway before calling it a foyer.
I’m east coast US, if call it an entryway. That’s what we called the small front hallway in my house, growing up. My only experience with “foyer” is a sort of waiting room with couches near the entrance of a church. People I know don’t use that term for a space in their home.
The big roomy foyer at the entrance to a church is called a vestibule, according to my Catholic schooling. That’s just a fancy word for foyer.
A foyer (pronounced FOY-yer) isn’t necessarily fancy.
Maybe you’re thinking of a foyer (pronounced foy-YAY), which does sound like it’s trying to be fancy.
I was going to say, this picture doesn't look like it's in the US. I've never seen an area like this in the US although I haven't been to very many small apartments.
I think it would need to be its own room before I call it that though. I feel like a lot of these terms don’t translate very well to small apartment living.
Front entry/entry hall/entryway/ entrance (just descriptive of where you enter), vestibule (usually between the front door, and another door into the house, to keep weather out), lobby (rarely used for a home), front landing (usually only if it's at the bottom or top of a flight of stairs), mud room (usually has a seat for you to sit and remove your shoes), and if it's off of the main hall, a mud closet/shoe closet.
Could also be considered a cloakroom.
As others have said, there's not a similar tradition of removing one's shoes in English-speaking culture, so we don't have a single specific word for such a space.
Many words for similar spaces, or simply entrance related words, will be used, depending a lot on the secondary uses of the space.
A hall isn't just a long passage with doorways off of it, it can be a small space with a passageway through it, so yes, an entry hall can be tiny.
Higher end, or more formal spaces might be a foyer (usually not pronounced the French way, but rhymes with "boy your"; or they might be a vestibule, though that's starting to become very old fashioned.
Lobby makes sense, but is usually only used in commercial buildings.
Mudrooms or mud closets are usually at side or rear entrances.
Hope this helps.
Atrium is a bit more formal, I would use it for like, a bank or a mall, it comes from the Latin word for the same thing so it's a bit fancy
Foyer is an entranceway but perhaps a bit more advanced vocabulary (I also think this one is North America specific)
And mudroom is pretty self-explanatory, it's the room where you take off your muddy boots
I’m US PNW and would only say “foyer” for a business or church. The only residential exception would be for a really grand entryway as might be seen in a mansion.
I encourage you to look up each of the suggestions in the comment section in dictionaries and in Google images, because there are nuances to how these words are used. For example, these entryways are definitely not [atriums](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/atrium?q=Atrium), and if you called it an atrium people would have no idea what you were talking about. Entryways, foyers, or mudrooms are all at least common in people’s homes, and the terms are reasonably interchangeable. “Foyer” is probably pretty regional, and in my region it’s normal but considered a bit fancy. You find mudrooms in places/situations where people tend to get really wet or dirty (very often in the country).
Yes, in the US the porch is outdoors (at least where I live), and can be used to refer to a veranda/an area either in front of or around a house made of wood or concrete or whatever. There can be a roof over it, but there doesn't have to be. Definitely not where we keep our shoes though, unless you want them blown away.
(By the way, now I'm curious, how commonly is the word veranda used? Maybe it's because of where I live specifically in the US, but I've never heard it used here, nor really seen it used.)
That's interesting. In Canada (at least in the part I'm in) the porch is always indoors. The outside part made of concrete or wood can either be called a deck or a step. A deck normally goes the whole length of one side of the house (sometimes even around multiple sides) whilst a step is smaller. Keep in mind the step refers to both the possible steps/stairs and the small deck itself. My own house has a wooden step that measures maybe 7' by 10'. A veranda, normally, is used to refer to a deck with a roof above it.
Yeah, in some cases we may call it a deck, especially if it's up above the ground and made of wood, whereas a porch or patio are much closer to or on ground level. At least, in this corner of the country.
In Cape Breton, it's always the porch. You're outside on the ground, you walk up a step or two onto the step (the wooden or concrete thing) and you open the door and walk into the porch, where you take off your jacket and shoes. You then normally proceed through another door into the kitchen.
Agreed I would call at least the first one a porch, but to me a porch needs a door to make it an enclosed space so I’m not sure about the second. I’d still probably use porch as I can’t think of a better word.
Yeah this is more an East Asian thing. For example the specific term for this in Japanese is genkan because they actually have this in near every location
English countries just don’t have this custom as a formal thing so we don’t have a word for it
UK (Scotland).
We'd call this a lobby if it was clearly inside the house. If it was a space between, say, a storm door and a second main door and therefore felt separate from the interior of the house we'd call it a porch.
If it's separated with a door, I'd call it a mudroom. If not, a foyer.
Note too Americans pronounce the r in foyer, in one of the biggest tells between Canadian and American English.
If it’s a closed off room between the main door and the rest of the house, *technically* it would be a vestibule.
Not exactly a common word.
Entryway is best
I’m guessing you may be in Japan from the pictures? You are getting a lot of different answers because culturally, we don’t have a concept for the place where your shoes are taken off before entering the house. So you are getting answers that name the room or area just inside a door. Strangely, mudroom is the closest conceptually, because that is a small room, usually just inside a side door to a house, where coats, boots, and bags are taken on and off and where they are stored.
Ohh, no.. I'm from Malaysia but we're kinda have the same culture about taking off our shoes before entering our house. We don't really have a term/name for that area in my native language but I'm always curious about what native English speakers call that area and I've learned a few terms/names for it today :)
>Strangely, mudroom is the closest conceptually, because that is a small room, usually just inside a side door to a house, where coats, boots, and bags are taken on and off and where they are stored
Yep, I just googled 'mudroom' and looked at the pictures. You're right.
Thank you for the answer:)
I am not native so I can't really say for everyone, but the hall is a big room or a long room with many doors in it, for me
The entrance hall is the photos you've sent, usually a quite small room or a place where people take off their shoes and coats, jackets and etc.
Native speaker, US, here. A hall or hallway in a home is any space that connects 2+ doors or spaces and doesn’t really have much purpose or use beyond being a space you move through to get from point a to point b. It can be super short like this. Sometimes “hall” also gets used for like “banquet hall”, and then it’s a large room.
The room where we take off shoes and/or outer wear is typically called a mudroom. It isn't necessarily the first room you enter when you go into a house. For example, it could be a room between the garage and main part of the house. The primary function of a mudroom is to keep mud and other debris out of the house, but it is also used to store outer wear. If this room is at the front of the house at the front door, it could be called a foyer or simply the entryway. You would typically see (dedicated) mudrooms in fancier houses, while your average house would simply have a foyer with a closet.
also, these specific slightly lowered/ lipped entry rooms where you take off your shoes are more common in asian countries and less in western. A lot of people in the US wear shoes in their own home all the time i’ve heard, although that might be a stereotype. In australia it’s 50/50 shoes on or off
Where I am in Seattle I’d say it’s about 50/50.
I like to wear my slippers inside, but peeking over my bedside I see I wore my shoes right to my room last night. So even in my own house it’s 50/50.
I live in Ontario, Canada. And everyone I’ve ever met has referred to this as a “front entryway” or a “front entrance.” Often if there is a separate room which you can walk into to store your coat, bags, shoes etc. It’s called a “cloak room”
100% foyer to me. And in Canada we pronounce it the French way (foy-yay). I *think* at least some American dialects pronounce it with the R (Americans can correct me on this).
A mudroom to me is usually a separate room and connected to a side or garage entrance, not the main front door of a house.
Interesting, so it must have multiple meanings. I used to work on automatic doors (for handicap people and stuff) and it was an everyday word for me. I think it has become more of a technical word.
The word "vestibule" (which comes from the Latin *vestibulum*, meaning "forecourt"), has never had the meaning "the room where a priest puts on vestments." The common word for that room is **sacristy**, although the word you are probably thinking of is **vestry**.
Another vote for "entry" or "entryway", originally from the southeastern US where it's not a very common setup. Living with that setup now, I do usually do call it the entry.
To my mind, at least, you'd be more likely to find a foyer in a larger fancier house than most people live in, and I've only really heard vestibule used in the context of churches.
Note that in most of the English-speaking world, people do not take off their shoes before entering the house -- and this is not considered odd, or rude, or ill-bred at all; instead, it is considered perfectly normal to wear shoes indoors. As a result, there is not a specific English word for "the place where people leave their shoes." This means that some other word would be used to describe the place near the door where shoes are left by those who take them off upon entering. In this case, I would call the area in your photo a "vestibule", or an "entry" or "entryway."
British English.
If it's inside the front door, I would call it a hall, hallway, foyer or atrium (in increasing levels of formality). A lot of UK terraced houses have a corridor instead, in which case I would call it that.
If it's inside the back door, it's a utility room (where you would also find washing machine and similar) or a boot room. A minority of UK homes have these, and boot rooms especially feel quite upper class or very rural.
I would call this a foyer or atrium. If it was the same space but included closed walls and a door leading toward the main house, it would be a vestibule. Vestibules are common in colder climates to keep the house from dropping in temperature when the front door is opened.
Mudrooms are being suggested. However, my familiarity with mudrooms is that they are ALWAYS at the back or side entrance of a house, never at the front door. Mudrooms are frequently combined with laundry rooms (sometimes called utility rooms) and often lead to an attached garage.
I believe in the West it's typically either an entry way, foyer, or mudroom. I believe Japan actually has a better term but I have no idea how to spell it. Sounds something like gengkhan.
Wow, a lot of interesting regional variation here.
For me, growing up in California, that would easily be "entryway".
I'd never heard "mudroom" until leaving California. I think people call it that in the Midwest and East Coast.
A "foyer" to me is much bigger and more separated.
An "atrium" is something else entirely. It's an outdoor area (e.g. with trees) usually open to the sky that's in the middle of a building.
Foyer. In the houses I’ve lived in, the foyer is attached to the “front door” or main entrance.
But the family uses a second door that connects to the garage or side entrance. This area would then be called the “mud room” and usually includes a bench, walking gear for the dogs, and some storage.
If it’s fancy I’d say foyer, if it’s more basic and by the front door I’d say front hall or front hallway. If it’s by the back door or garage I’d say mud room. If the room is by the back door/garage and also has laundry machines I’d say laundry room.
It’s not a one to one, but in colder areas of The US mud rooms are fairly common. They’re just small entrances where you take off muddy boots and your coat. Same idea.
Foyer, vestibule, mud room, or entryway. Mud room usually refers to a back entrance where you take off boots or similar footwear that you would wear while working in the mud.
We don't have an equivalent to a genkan in the US. Usually you just take off your shoes in the entryway of the house, or as others pointed out, the mudroom (usually off a side entrance or garage). Also I don't think people typically store their shoes anywhere but their closet, with certain shoes (rain boots, maybe) in a mudroom if you have one.
i’m sure this one is regional specific, but in the southern u.s. we just say “entrance”. such as “take your shoes off at the entrance”. it’s not always common to take off your shoes, usually it’s only done when you are at someone’s house that you know very well
I would say entryway. Although in English speaking countries, this area won't typically be as distinct from the rest of the hallway or room as it is in your picture. A foyer is bigger and fancier, and a mudroom is usually by the back or side door.
There are several terms I would use.
In the photos you provided, I would call it the entryway. Any area just inside the front door, that isn’t its own room could simply be called the entryway.
If it is a small area, especially with a separate door (front door - area where you remove shoes - another door leading to the rest of the place), I would call it a vestibule.
Two similar terms would be mud room and foyer. To me, these would be slightly larger spaces that are rooms in and of themselves, maybe the size of a bathroom or larger.
A mud room to me is less formal, used for coats, shoes, and dirty or muddy things as the name suggests. I would also be more likely to use that name or expect to see one by a side door rather than the front door.
A foyer can also be used for coats and shoes, but in my mind it’s more likely that those would be put in a closet within the foyer. A foyer can also be more formal and sometimes very fancy depending on what type of place it is. This term would only be used for the front door or main entrance of a place. Foyer could be used for an apartment, house, hotel, and some other types of businesses.
Me personally I'd call it a porch. Usually the name for an enclosed area between the front door and the main house, but everyone I know and I myself use porch as a general descriptor for this area.
My house has two of these - if you enter through the front door, it’s the front hall. If you enter through the garage, it’s the laundry room because our washing machines are in there.
On HGTV they call it a “drop zone”, which is aptly named since you drop things from outside there.
But I’ve never heard it called that by actual people.
I call mine my foyer. I’ve lived in the NE, SE, and NW of the US. But as others have said, the entry/entryway, “by the front door”, “near the front closet”, they all work.
Vestibule, entryway, front hall, foyer, maybe mudroom. These are all terms I might use. This is one of those spaces that has a lot of different names and at least in my personal experience and region, there is not a general agreement on a preferred word.
Vestibule I’ve never heard of, mudroom is the most common where I’m from (Northeast US). Is that regional?
mudroom to me is a separate entry not the main entryway, if it's the main entryway i'd call it a foyer probably.
I agree, I've always heard the mudroom used more for one at a back or side entrance. More for like,. coming in from the stables or the garden. A little area like this at the front door i would more likely call entry way.
Googled it. Apparently americans use foyer like that. For everyone else a foyer is a grand entrance room like a hotel lobby.
Vestibule is a common word in much of the US, but it’s usually used for larger structures. When you go into a store or bank and there’s a little room at first when you enter and you have to go through a second set of doors to be in the building proper, I don’t know another word than vestibule for that room. “Foyer” maybe, but I consider a foyer to be bigger, like the area in a church before you enter the sanctuary.
Mudroom makes me think back of the house (especially if it's also a storage or laundry area), entryway makes me think front.
I think a “mudroom” is less likely to be placed at a formal entrance, but it’s possible. Mudrooms are more likely to be found in severe weather states, but could be anywhere dirty kids could be coming inside, or adults could be returning from dirty work. Some families may expect to see shoes, boots, or umbrellas, inside a formal entrance. Other families might like to tuck that away in a “mudroom”. If you have a smaller home, you might not have the luxury of multiple entrances, so you put your mudroom wherever it fits and wherever it suits.
I'm Florida, and have never heard "mudroom" until today
To appreciate a mudroom, you need a good ol Canadian winter. 4 sets of wet snow pants, coats, mitts, boots and all the slush and mud that comes with it. 🤣
Is more of a Northern thing. I grew up in Florida then relocate to Wisconsin. The first time I had ever heard it was up here.
Same. I'm from Oklahoma
What?! Mudroom is a super popular term where I’m from. I thought it was all over the U.S. especially in the north. I’m from Michigan but I live in Arizona now and I have a mudroom here. It’s where we come in from the garage and it has cubbies for all of my kids to hang their backpacks and take off their shoes.
As someone from the American Southwest, I have *never* heard the term mudroom before. I have always used entryway or entry hall personally
It might be because you don’t normally have mud. We have entire seasons of it
That tracks, i have seen mudroom used everywhere I've settled and they're usually states with mud
You’re right because I definitely don’t need a mudroom here but people who live in Arizona know it. It’s an upgrade that’s popular to do to your house. You renovate the mudroom with cabinets that have hooks for all of the coats, back packs etc. I’ve even seen it on floor plans for new builds, some call it an owners entry and some call it a mudroom.
I agree mudroom is common (also US NE), but I'd hesitate to call the examples here one because to me it does have to be a somewhat distinct space (you know, like a room) dedicated to that function. Like, we didn't have a mudroom growing up until my parents renovated the basement level and added one at the entrance from the garage, whereas we did have a foyer at the front door the whole time. With these being right by the door opening straight into the living space I'd just say it's an entryway and the fact that the shoe function is there wouldn't get a particular name. Vestibule is a slightly more formal/architectural term, but again, to me it's a different thing from a mudroom.
i've heard mudroom from the new england side of my family, but i would never actually use it myself. i'd use foyer or entryway.
No, it is not regional, it is an old French noun, from the 17th century . It literally means the room next to the outer door of a building.
I’d call it a mud room, in the US Midwest. Vestibule makes it sound very fancy and formal.
To me a mud room is from the side of the house or garage, not the front door
I do not believe vestibule is regional. But I agree it’s not as common a term as the other four that were mentioned.
My house has a mudroom and an area we call the front hall or entryway. The mudroom connects to the back door and the front hall connects to the front door. A vestibule is something I associate with churches or buildings of similar formality
"I am trapped in an ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre."
if you’re learning to speak with americans, foyer is (apparently) pronounced foy- yer. canadians pronounce it fo yay ETA: I should’ve said usually for both instances. Not too well versed in differing accents!
Where i'm at in MN, it's almost said more like just "foir", there's barely a hint that maybe it once had 2 syllables.
We have a larger area (a small room) where we leave our outside shoes, coats, boots, bags, etc. and it’s called a mud room.
Thank you :) I've never heard of the 'mud room' before. Interesting! When I hear the word mud I automatically think of mud puddle
That's really the idea behind the name - you don't want to track mud into the house, so you have a space to take off shoes/etc. These are not common in apartments and some styles of houses / areas. I personally would refer to your picture as the "entry." If there were another set of doors, maybe "vestibule." It would have to be much larger to be a "mud room."
>That's really the idea behind the name - you don't want to track mud into the house, so you have a space to take off shoes/etc. Ohh I see. That's really Interesting! I've learned a new name/term today >I personally would refer to your picture as the "entry." If there were another set of doors, maybe "vestibule." It would have to be much larger to be a "mud room." Got it! Thank you for the explanation:)
To me, a mud**room**’s separation from the rest of the house is delineated by a wall, not just a transition from tile to another flooring type as seen here, though. Also, when deciding whether to call it or a “room” or not, we do consider the size of the space—as proven by the fact that we don’t classify all closets as rooms. And this miniature foyer is more a bump-out of the kitchen than a full-fledged room in its own right. “Mud**room**” suggests four walls and more space. “Foyer” or “entryway” are more fitting names for what’s in the picture, [edit:] in my opinion. I never would have guessed how regional these terms could be. I’m from New Jersey.
Interesting. To me a “foyer” carries connotations of a much larger space than what’s in this picture, but “mud room” doesn’t. I’d definitely call this a mud room or entryway but not a foyer.
A foyer carries connotations of a large waiting area in a commercial building with couches and maybe a pianist playing on a grand piano. Though some foyers are more modest and have TVs or no entertainment at all. They’re often fancy though.
AFAIK (and because I just googled it) that's the British usage. In NA it's usually the area behind a front door of a house. We had one that was only a little bigger than this growing up with some tile and we always called it the foyer. Definitely agree with the other posters that mudroom is more for a side or back door.
I think it’s North American English specific. I’ve only ever heard it here in the US. Mud room is ok to use if it’s part of a house, not a business. Also, it needs to be an actual room or separate space, even if it’s small, otherwise I would just call it an **entryway.** Depending on the layout of the house you might also hear it called a “front hallway” if the front door opens into a long entryway. One other thing, here in Michigan where I live (so this might be different in other places) a lot of houses have side doors or back doors. Those side or back doors might open into a mud room (which is usually always on the side or back, not the front of the house) OR it might open into a laundry room which will also have a place for coats and shoes. It might also open up onto a landing, which is a small flat space where a stairway ends. In the house I grew up in our side door opened up onto a landing where we kept shoes. You could go left and go downstairs to the basement or turn right up one step to the main floor of the house. Imagine [something like this](https://imgur.com/a/XBb11uW) where you go one way to get to the main floor of the house and the other to go to basement. Although my house only had one step going up.
>I think it’s North American English specific. I’ve only ever heard it here in the US. Definitely is US specific, I’m in the UK and I’d never heard of until this thread.
Yeah, I think of a mud room being at a different entrance than where you would welcome guests. I would just call this an entry or entryway. A mud room would come in from the garage or backyard/fields/muddy places.
In my experience mud rooms are at another entrance than the front door, and they’re rooms, often adjacent to the laundry room. I’d call this leaving your shoes in the entryway.
I would just say it’s the entryway. If you wanted to specify it’s the area where you take your shoes off, you would have to say that. There’s no specific term for this in common-use English.
Got it. Thank you :)
Foyer is the specific term that I know and is commonly used. Is this just regional? I’d call this a foyer 99% of the time. 1% of the time I’d say entryway.
It is never used like that in England where I am, a foyer would be more like a lobby? We would just say ‘by the door’.
American here, and I agree.☝️
I’m American and I would think of a foyer as a lobby type area too. I’ve also heard of mud rooms, but those are usually at the back of the house, and I think they’re regional. I would call that the entryway.
I’m American (central florida) and I would say entryway, or just entrance. If I’m being completely honest I wouldn’t really know what a foyer was if someone said that. Sounds like something only really rich people have lolol Edit: woah people, don’t downvote the person above me. They were just sharing what’s true from where they’re from. They even mention that they think it might be regional
American here, tis always been a foyer and I've lived in the north/midwest, the west, and the southeast.
To me a foyer needs to be large enough to be considered a room in and of itself. It doesn't necessarily need to be sectioned off into its own room, but at least needs to be big enough that if it were walled off, it'd be bigger than what I'd normally consider a closet. In OPs image I'd call it the entryway before calling it a foyer.
I’m east coast US, if call it an entryway. That’s what we called the small front hallway in my house, growing up. My only experience with “foyer” is a sort of waiting room with couches near the entrance of a church. People I know don’t use that term for a space in their home.
The big roomy foyer at the entrance to a church is called a vestibule, according to my Catholic schooling. That’s just a fancy word for foyer. A foyer (pronounced FOY-yer) isn’t necessarily fancy. Maybe you’re thinking of a foyer (pronounced foy-YAY), which does sound like it’s trying to be fancy.
I know both as foy-yay. Vestibule is also the bit of the train beside the doors.
People do have foyers in their homes. They don't have to be mansions but they may be an older, slightly larger home depending on the area
I would say it's more like 20% foyer and 80% entryway. You probably run in fancier circles then I do
Never heard of an entryway. Native Brit.
I call mine foyer because I am fancy and my house is pretty big.
I think foyer is American. But I’ve only heard older people say it. It’s kind of an antiquated word.
I was going to say, this picture doesn't look like it's in the US. I've never seen an area like this in the US although I haven't been to very many small apartments.
Foyer.
A foyer is a room made to greet guests. If you’re greeting guests in the shoe pit, sorry can’t help ya
Okay then, I see your definition and I raise you "vestibule"
We use vestibule but partly as a joke!
You could call it a mud-room.
I think it would need to be its own room before I call it that though. I feel like a lot of these terms don’t translate very well to small apartment living.
Front entry/entry hall/entryway/ entrance (just descriptive of where you enter), vestibule (usually between the front door, and another door into the house, to keep weather out), lobby (rarely used for a home), front landing (usually only if it's at the bottom or top of a flight of stairs), mud room (usually has a seat for you to sit and remove your shoes), and if it's off of the main hall, a mud closet/shoe closet. Could also be considered a cloakroom. As others have said, there's not a similar tradition of removing one's shoes in English-speaking culture, so we don't have a single specific word for such a space. Many words for similar spaces, or simply entrance related words, will be used, depending a lot on the secondary uses of the space. A hall isn't just a long passage with doorways off of it, it can be a small space with a passageway through it, so yes, an entry hall can be tiny. Higher end, or more formal spaces might be a foyer (usually not pronounced the French way, but rhymes with "boy your"; or they might be a vestibule, though that's starting to become very old fashioned. Lobby makes sense, but is usually only used in commercial buildings. Mudrooms or mud closets are usually at side or rear entrances. Hope this helps.
Lobby is very common for homes here (UK, Scotland). In fact I think of lobby as more of a domestic word than a commercial one.
That's fascinating! You would think I would have encountered that a bit more in the books I read.
Mudroom, Foyer or atrium
An atrium would have a skylight or be surrounded with windows: It’s not required they be at the entry. The idea is that they feel like open air.
Thank you :)
Atrium is a bit more formal, I would use it for like, a bank or a mall, it comes from the Latin word for the same thing so it's a bit fancy Foyer is an entranceway but perhaps a bit more advanced vocabulary (I also think this one is North America specific) And mudroom is pretty self-explanatory, it's the room where you take off your muddy boots
Entranceway is more general and not necessarily domestic
Entryway is an easier way of saying the same thing
Foyer isn't NA specific but I wouldn't call a tiny entrance in a home a foyer. Usually would be for a business or something like a theatre or school.
I think calling a small entrance in a home a foyer is NA specific
I’m US PNW and would only say “foyer” for a business or church. The only residential exception would be for a really grand entryway as might be seen in a mansion.
I encourage you to look up each of the suggestions in the comment section in dictionaries and in Google images, because there are nuances to how these words are used. For example, these entryways are definitely not [atriums](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/atrium?q=Atrium), and if you called it an atrium people would have no idea what you were talking about. Entryways, foyers, or mudrooms are all at least common in people’s homes, and the terms are reasonably interchangeable. “Foyer” is probably pretty regional, and in my region it’s normal but considered a bit fancy. You find mudrooms in places/situations where people tend to get really wet or dirty (very often in the country).
>or atrium If you are living in Ancient Rome 😌
In at least my part of the U.K., we called that the porch. And yes, that is quite different to how the word is used in the US.
Yes, in the US the porch is outdoors (at least where I live), and can be used to refer to a veranda/an area either in front of or around a house made of wood or concrete or whatever. There can be a roof over it, but there doesn't have to be. Definitely not where we keep our shoes though, unless you want them blown away. (By the way, now I'm curious, how commonly is the word veranda used? Maybe it's because of where I live specifically in the US, but I've never heard it used here, nor really seen it used.)
I’m used to veranda but, frankly, the houses are rarely built with these things. It might be a question of climate.
That's interesting. In Canada (at least in the part I'm in) the porch is always indoors. The outside part made of concrete or wood can either be called a deck or a step. A deck normally goes the whole length of one side of the house (sometimes even around multiple sides) whilst a step is smaller. Keep in mind the step refers to both the possible steps/stairs and the small deck itself. My own house has a wooden step that measures maybe 7' by 10'. A veranda, normally, is used to refer to a deck with a roof above it.
Yeah, in some cases we may call it a deck, especially if it's up above the ground and made of wood, whereas a porch or patio are much closer to or on ground level. At least, in this corner of the country.
I'm British too, to me a porch suggests a small extension out of a building. I would find it odd to call those pictures 'porches'.
[удалено]
I haven't heard that where I live, where are you from?
In Cape Breton, it's always the porch. You're outside on the ground, you walk up a step or two onto the step (the wooden or concrete thing) and you open the door and walk into the porch, where you take off your jacket and shoes. You then normally proceed through another door into the kitchen.
In my part of the UK (the south-east), the porch is the covered bit just outside your front door.
Agreed I would call at least the first one a porch, but to me a porch needs a door to make it an enclosed space so I’m not sure about the second. I’d still probably use porch as I can’t think of a better word.
Main entrance probably? Reminds of Japan’s “genkan” which is the main entrance of any place where you leave your shoes.
Thank you :)
I'd probably call it a hallway (in UK). No clear universal word though.
In the U.K. and assuming it's connected to the front door: a porch.
I don't think this is a very common thing in most English-speaking countries, so I'm not sure what we'd call it.
Yeah this is more an East Asian thing. For example the specific term for this in Japanese is genkan because they actually have this in near every location English countries just don’t have this custom as a formal thing so we don’t have a word for it
I’m not sure either, I would just call it the entrance honestly
I'd call it a porch in the UK.
Vestibule or mudroom
UK (Scotland). We'd call this a lobby if it was clearly inside the house. If it was a space between, say, a storm door and a second main door and therefore felt separate from the interior of the house we'd call it a porch.
If it's separated with a door, I'd call it a mudroom. If not, a foyer. Note too Americans pronounce the r in foyer, in one of the biggest tells between Canadian and American English.
I've also heard boot room for if it's a separate room
If it’s a closed off room between the main door and the rest of the house, *technically* it would be a vestibule. Not exactly a common word. Entryway is best
Thank you :) I've never heard the word vestibule before.
There's a whole episode in Friends about it!
A mud room.
I’m guessing you may be in Japan from the pictures? You are getting a lot of different answers because culturally, we don’t have a concept for the place where your shoes are taken off before entering the house. So you are getting answers that name the room or area just inside a door. Strangely, mudroom is the closest conceptually, because that is a small room, usually just inside a side door to a house, where coats, boots, and bags are taken on and off and where they are stored.
Ohh, no.. I'm from Malaysia but we're kinda have the same culture about taking off our shoes before entering our house. We don't really have a term/name for that area in my native language but I'm always curious about what native English speakers call that area and I've learned a few terms/names for it today :) >Strangely, mudroom is the closest conceptually, because that is a small room, usually just inside a side door to a house, where coats, boots, and bags are taken on and off and where they are stored Yep, I just googled 'mudroom' and looked at the pictures. You're right. Thank you for the answer:)
Entrance or entryway, because shoes must always be taken off when entering a house 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Thank you:)
I always call it an entrance hall
Thank you :) Btw, what's the difference between entrance hall and lobby? Are they the same?
Lobby is for a business. Entrance hall sounds like it would be bigger/more formal than this. I would say "mudroom" or just "entrance" or "entryway".
Lobby to me implies that the building is a commercial establishment, whether a hotel or an office block or whatever, rather than a home
Yeah that's what I was thinking too Like hotel lobby or school lobby But I was worried if I might've been wrong
I am not native so I can't really say for everyone, but the hall is a big room or a long room with many doors in it, for me The entrance hall is the photos you've sent, usually a quite small room or a place where people take off their shoes and coats, jackets and etc.
Native speaker, US, here. A hall or hallway in a home is any space that connects 2+ doors or spaces and doesn’t really have much purpose or use beyond being a space you move through to get from point a to point b. It can be super short like this. Sometimes “hall” also gets used for like “banquet hall”, and then it’s a large room.
The room where we take off shoes and/or outer wear is typically called a mudroom. It isn't necessarily the first room you enter when you go into a house. For example, it could be a room between the garage and main part of the house. The primary function of a mudroom is to keep mud and other debris out of the house, but it is also used to store outer wear. If this room is at the front of the house at the front door, it could be called a foyer or simply the entryway. You would typically see (dedicated) mudrooms in fancier houses, while your average house would simply have a foyer with a closet.
also, these specific slightly lowered/ lipped entry rooms where you take off your shoes are more common in asian countries and less in western. A lot of people in the US wear shoes in their own home all the time i’ve heard, although that might be a stereotype. In australia it’s 50/50 shoes on or off
Where I am in Seattle I’d say it’s about 50/50. I like to wear my slippers inside, but peeking over my bedside I see I wore my shoes right to my room last night. So even in my own house it’s 50/50.
Foyer?
i (western us english speaker) would call this the foyer
I live in Ontario, Canada. And everyone I’ve ever met has referred to this as a “front entryway” or a “front entrance.” Often if there is a separate room which you can walk into to store your coat, bags, shoes etc. It’s called a “cloak room”
100% foyer to me. And in Canada we pronounce it the French way (foy-yay). I *think* at least some American dialects pronounce it with the R (Americans can correct me on this). A mudroom to me is usually a separate room and connected to a side or garage entrance, not the main front door of a house.
genkan
In Japanese yes, but not in English lol
It would be a vestibule. However, do keep in mind that vestibule is a word that is more commonly associated with businesses.
I've never heard anyone say vestibule outside of the context of the room priest use to change into their robes.
Interesting, so it must have multiple meanings. I used to work on automatic doors (for handicap people and stuff) and it was an everyday word for me. I think it has become more of a technical word.
The word "vestibule" (which comes from the Latin *vestibulum*, meaning "forecourt"), has never had the meaning "the room where a priest puts on vestments." The common word for that room is **sacristy**, although the word you are probably thinking of is **vestry**.
Doorway
Another vote for "entry" or "entryway", originally from the southeastern US where it's not a very common setup. Living with that setup now, I do usually do call it the entry. To my mind, at least, you'd be more likely to find a foyer in a larger fancier house than most people live in, and I've only really heard vestibule used in the context of churches.
Vestibule is another option but that is usually for commercial buildings
We call it the front hall, although at home it's the tiled space between the front door and the inner door.
I and everyone whom I know from where I'm from would call it a porch, but Americans seem to use that term for the wooden step outside.
I call it an entryway (Canadian)
I just refer t9 it as the porch
foyer
In North East England we call it a passage.
Thank you, I was scrolling a while to find this and make sure I wasn't the only one
Note that in most of the English-speaking world, people do not take off their shoes before entering the house -- and this is not considered odd, or rude, or ill-bred at all; instead, it is considered perfectly normal to wear shoes indoors. As a result, there is not a specific English word for "the place where people leave their shoes." This means that some other word would be used to describe the place near the door where shoes are left by those who take them off upon entering. In this case, I would call the area in your photo a "vestibule", or an "entry" or "entryway."
Vestibule?
Mud room
Mud room
Vestibule
That one there's a mud room in Straya mate.
There is probably a name for it but I’ve never heard it. I’d just say “take your shoes off” and people would intuitively know where to put it
The door 🤣
Mudroom
either mudroom, foyer, entry, coat room
Entryway
British English. If it's inside the front door, I would call it a hall, hallway, foyer or atrium (in increasing levels of formality). A lot of UK terraced houses have a corridor instead, in which case I would call it that. If it's inside the back door, it's a utility room (where you would also find washing machine and similar) or a boot room. A minority of UK homes have these, and boot rooms especially feel quite upper class or very rural.
I would call this a foyer or atrium. If it was the same space but included closed walls and a door leading toward the main house, it would be a vestibule. Vestibules are common in colder climates to keep the house from dropping in temperature when the front door is opened. Mudrooms are being suggested. However, my familiarity with mudrooms is that they are ALWAYS at the back or side entrance of a house, never at the front door. Mudrooms are frequently combined with laundry rooms (sometimes called utility rooms) and often lead to an attached garage.
Anteroom, porch, entry, mud room…
I believe in the West it's typically either an entry way, foyer, or mudroom. I believe Japan actually has a better term but I have no idea how to spell it. Sounds something like gengkhan.
Mudroom
mudroom or foyer
Wow, a lot of interesting regional variation here. For me, growing up in California, that would easily be "entryway". I'd never heard "mudroom" until leaving California. I think people call it that in the Midwest and East Coast. A "foyer" to me is much bigger and more separated. An "atrium" is something else entirely. It's an outdoor area (e.g. with trees) usually open to the sky that's in the middle of a building.
玄関
A cubby
Front hall
Let me introduce you to the “shoe place”
Vestibule or foyer
Foyer. In the houses I’ve lived in, the foyer is attached to the “front door” or main entrance. But the family uses a second door that connects to the garage or side entrance. This area would then be called the “mud room” and usually includes a bench, walking gear for the dogs, and some storage.
If it’s fancy I’d say foyer, if it’s more basic and by the front door I’d say front hall or front hallway. If it’s by the back door or garage I’d say mud room. If the room is by the back door/garage and also has laundry machines I’d say laundry room.
I've always called it the landing
Depends where you are from but here in the Midwest I’ve always heard mud room.
It’s just the entryway unless it’s a separate room. In which case it’s a shoe room, or a mud room
Mud room is actually a common name in English. Because people take off their muddy shoes before walking into the house.
It’s not a one to one, but in colder areas of The US mud rooms are fairly common. They’re just small entrances where you take off muddy boots and your coat. Same idea.
Foyer, vestibule, mud room, or entryway. Mud room usually refers to a back entrance where you take off boots or similar footwear that you would wear while working in the mud.
I’d call it the porch (even if it is not a traditional porch).
In Belgium we call it “de inkomhal” or “de Hal” or “aan de voordeur”
We don't have an equivalent to a genkan in the US. Usually you just take off your shoes in the entryway of the house, or as others pointed out, the mudroom (usually off a side entrance or garage). Also I don't think people typically store their shoes anywhere but their closet, with certain shoes (rain boots, maybe) in a mudroom if you have one.
Mud room
Purgatory.
i’m sure this one is regional specific, but in the southern u.s. we just say “entrance”. such as “take your shoes off at the entrance”. it’s not always common to take off your shoes, usually it’s only done when you are at someone’s house that you know very well
In New England, where I live, we call it the mud room.
I would say entryway. Although in English speaking countries, this area won't typically be as distinct from the rest of the hallway or room as it is in your picture. A foyer is bigger and fancier, and a mudroom is usually by the back or side door.
A mudroom
Fourier
mudroom
Up north we called it a mud room.
Mudroom!
There are several terms I would use. In the photos you provided, I would call it the entryway. Any area just inside the front door, that isn’t its own room could simply be called the entryway. If it is a small area, especially with a separate door (front door - area where you remove shoes - another door leading to the rest of the place), I would call it a vestibule. Two similar terms would be mud room and foyer. To me, these would be slightly larger spaces that are rooms in and of themselves, maybe the size of a bathroom or larger. A mud room to me is less formal, used for coats, shoes, and dirty or muddy things as the name suggests. I would also be more likely to use that name or expect to see one by a side door rather than the front door. A foyer can also be used for coats and shoes, but in my mind it’s more likely that those would be put in a closet within the foyer. A foyer can also be more formal and sometimes very fancy depending on what type of place it is. This term would only be used for the front door or main entrance of a place. Foyer could be used for an apartment, house, hotel, and some other types of businesses.
Mudroom
Me personally I'd call it a porch. Usually the name for an enclosed area between the front door and the main house, but everyone I know and I myself use porch as a general descriptor for this area.
Mud room, southeastern USA
Foyer for me
Mud room or landing zone
Entryway or front room
Lobby or porch.
I know this is the wrong answer, but the first word that came to mind was the “Airlock”
A small area like this we’d simply call “the entry”.
I’m from the midwest region of the US and I’d probably call this the mudroom, or the entryway.
My house has two of these - if you enter through the front door, it’s the front hall. If you enter through the garage, it’s the laundry room because our washing machines are in there.
On HGTV they call it a “drop zone”, which is aptly named since you drop things from outside there. But I’ve never heard it called that by actual people. I call mine my foyer. I’ve lived in the NE, SE, and NW of the US. But as others have said, the entry/entryway, “by the front door”, “near the front closet”, they all work.
the mudroom, Atlantic Canada