hut

hut — noun

1. a small, basic shelter or simple building, often with just one room, where peopl

1.nounB1
Definition

a small, basic shelter or simple building, often with just one room, where people live, store things, or take cover from the weather.

Example

Bilal's family stayed in a small stone hut while hiking in the mountains last summer.

collocation: stone hut / mountain hut

Mira rents a wooden beach hut where her kids change before swimming.

collocation: beach hut

Common collocations
  • mountain hut
  • beach hut
  • garden hut
  • wooden hut
  • stone hut
  • thatched hut
  • small hut
  • temporary hut
Synonyms
  • shed

    usually for storing tools or equipment, not for living in

  • cabin

    larger and more solidly built than a hut, often made of wood

  • shack

    suggests a hut that is old, run-down, or poorly built

Antonyms
  • mansion

    a very large, impressive house — the opposite of a small basic hut

Grammar Patterns

hut + noun (compound)

adjective + hut

Usage Note

Countable noun. Often combined with a material or location word (e.g., 'stone hut', 'beach hut', 'mountain hut', 'thatched hut', 'garden hut'). A hut is simpler and smaller than a 'cabin' or 'cottage'. It usually has basic construction and minimal facilities.

Common Mistakes

They stayed in a luxury hut with five bedrooms.
They stayed in a small wooden hut with just one room.
'Hut' suggests a very simple, basic building, not a large or luxurious one.
He stores his car in a hut.
He stores his gardening tools in a hut.
'Hut' is too small for a car; 'garage' or 'shed' would be more appropriate.

hut — exclamation

Word family

  • hutlike
    adjective

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five words describe small buildings, but they differ in use and connotation. 'Hut' is the most basic — a small, simply built shelter, often made of materials like wood, stone, or thatch, and used for living, storage, or weather protection. 'Cabin' is more substantial, almost always made of wood, and often found in forests or mountains; it suggests a more solid, comfortable dwelling than a hut. 'Shack' has a negative tone — it implies a hut that is old, poorly built, or falling apart. 'Shed' is a small structure for storing tools, equipment, or garden supplies; people do not usually live in a shed. 'Cottage' is the most comfortable of the five — a small but charming permanent house, often in the countryside or by the sea, with proper facilities. For example, you might live in a hut while camping, spend a weekend in a rented cabin, see a run-down shack on abandoned land, keep your lawnmower in a garden shed, or retire to a countryside cottage.

hut ↗cabin ↗shack ↗shedcottage ↗

Common collocations

Prepositions

  • in a hut
  • into a hut
  • out of a hut

Etymology

Old High GermanFrenchEnglish

The word 'hut' entered English in the 1600s from French 'hutte', which came from Old High German 'hutta' meaning 'a small shelter or cottage'. The basic idea of a small, simple dwelling has stayed the same for hundreds of years.