What is the difference among 'dormitorio', 'recámara', 'alcoba' and 'habitación'?

Question

What are the differences among these words?

dormitorio
recámara
alcoba
habitación

The dictionary says they all mean "bedroom"; I suspect it's a regional/dialectical thing.

What are these words used for in your country/region and which of these is the most common one for "bedroom" in your country?

Please do mention your country so I know which dialect we are talking about.

it's missing cuarto in Cuba we use more often habitación and cuarto, all those words have the same meaning. they are synonymous. — Emilio Gort, May 28 '14 at 18:35
I don't understand why you say dialect of Spanish by nationality all countries that have Spanish as official language, speak Spanish or Castellano how it's properly called, each country has their own idioms, but it's the same language. link to Dialecto — Emilio Gort, May 29 '14 at 00:57
@c.p. Covacha? Never heard of that word? Where is it used? — TheLearner, May 29 '14 at 05:24
I'm sorry. It's meaning is cave, but don't use it. It's somehow derogatory for little room, but no body uses it. I added it just for fun. — c.p., May 29 '14 at 08:17
Actually none. Just different regions has different ways of saying the same thing. — ezequiel elias, Jul 06 '20 at 22:27
Interesting! I grew up (Mexican relatives) hearing recamara, Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish doesn't even mention that word, they use dormitorio or habitacion. — Nancy Hausman, Jul 06 '20 at 17:27

score 10 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 28 '20 at 09:20

I'm from Northern Spain.

Here the most common word is habitación:

¡Vete a tu habitación! _{Go to your bedroom!}

However, in books and on TV, cuarto is probably more often seen and heard:

¡Vete a tu cuarto!

Both are used with a possesive, thus tu habitación and tu cuarto means your bedroom or your room.

But without the possesive, they may refer to any room, so in these cases dormitorio is used:

Se vende una casa con 4 dormitorios. _{House sold with 4 bedrooms.}

alcoba sounds archaic. It can be used for rhetoric, poetic turns of phrase, or humoristic effect, except when it refers metaphorically to a marriage (or some similar relationship status in which a bed is shared), particularly in the idiom:

Problemas de alcoba. _{Marriage issues.}

recámara is almost never used.

@Jdamian Eso mismo indica la respuesta en "But without the possesive, they may refer to any room" — Brian H., Oct 28 '20 at 14:28

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited May 30 '14 at 00:30

10

In Mexico... all 4 words are used for bedroom:

Recámara also means chamber (the part of a pistol)

Alcoba as @rodrigo says, is only used in books, novels and so on, although in some places (like hotels) you can find alcoba matrimonial referring to a wedding suite.

Dormitorio could be "dorm", a place when you find lots of beds

Habitación could be any room, just a place surrounded by 4 walls

Cuarto also means bedroom but has other meanings like "the fourth part of something" (Un cuarto the kilo - 1/4 kilo)

edited May 30 '14 at 00:30

dockeryZ

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answered May 28 '14 at 20:34

Nicoli

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Alcoba sounds 'mamón' ;). In typical translation English to Spanish of series: "ve a tu alcoba" sounds just horrible. And so does rosquilla for donought and dentífrico for pasta de dientes. I cannot stand it. (+1 btw.) – c.p. May 28 '14 at 22:51
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@c.p. si alguien que no fuera dentista me dijera dentífrico por pasta de dintes lo daría por loco – Emilio Gort May 29 '14 at 01:04
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@EmilioGort :D ... yo me cuidaría pues eso significaría que no estudió odontología, sino para traductor de series. – c.p. May 29 '14 at 08:19
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I'm from @Argentina, and agree with this. But I wouldn't say any room could be an "habitación", just those that are part of a residential building (house, hotel, etc.). In a business it sounds odd for me to name "habitación" to any room. – ESL Apr 20 '15 at 11:54

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered May 29 '14 at 21:02

4

Here in Chile we say pieza or dormitorio. Almost never habitación, and never, never alcoba, cuarto or recámara.

answered May 29 '14 at 21:02

Eva Thyssen

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered May 29 '14 at 20:59

They may all have exactly the same meaning, they do not all have the same context.

Cuarto - Quarters. Living quarters. It's a very ancient term in English, but it still lingers in the spanish language.

Recámara, to me, makes me think of a hotel room, or a room for rent.

Alcoba, I have never heard, but judging from the others' attempt to translate it, I find it to mean nothing more than a room. Not a bedroom in particular, but rather just a room.

Aula is something I know has classroom.

Habituación sounds like a very proper, fancy way to refer to a bedroom; I can see why it would be used in Spain.

Dormitorio is exactly what you would think it is, a dormitory. In English, the word dormitory or domicile are very proper names for a bedroom.

So again, even though they all mean the same thing, they deserve their contexts.

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 29 '19 at 09:10

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I'm from Argentina and we say pieza to mean "bedroom".

edited Mar 29 '19 at 09:10

answered Mar 28 '19 at 20:36

Isa Rodriguez

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What is the difference among 'dormitorio', 'recámara', 'alcoba' and 'habitación'?

5 Answers5