Salon or saloon?
salon is a noun meaning “A large room, especially one used to receive and entertain guests”; saloon is a noun meaning “A tavern, especially in an American Old West setting”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) salon is about 2.8 times as common as saloon.
What is the difference between salon and saloon?
| salon | saloon | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | A large room, especially one used to receive and entertain guests A gathering of people for a social or intellectual meeting | USA tavern, especially in an American Old West setting UKA car with a boot or trunk compartment separate from the driver/passenger space and with seating and doors for more than two people |
| Example | none recorded | Near-synonyms: pub; see also Thesaurus:pub |
| Forms | salons | saloons |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsælɒn/ /səˈlɑn/ /səˈlɔn/ | /səˈlun/ |
| In writing | 7.4 times per million words | 2.7 times per million words |
Sources: salon and saloon in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of salon and saloon
salon
- 1
A large room, especially one used to receive and entertain guests
- 2
A gathering of people for a social or intellectual meeting
- 3
An art gallery or exhibition; especially the Paris salon or autumn salon
- 4
A beauty salon or similar establishment
saloon
- 1
USA tavern, especially in an American Old West setting
Near-synonyms: pub; see also Thesaurus:pub
- 2
UKdatedA lounge bar in an English public house, contrasted with the public bar
A pint of beer in the saloon bar costs a penny more than in the public bar
- 3
UKA car with a boot or trunk compartment separate from the driver/passenger space and with seating and doors for more than two people
- 4
The cabin area of a boat or yacht devoted to seated relaxation, often combined with dining table
- 5
the part of a rail carriage or multiple unit containing seating for passengers
- 6
datedDated form of salon (“living room in a house”)
- 7
IndiaA barbershop (store offering haircuts)
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, salon or saloon?
salon appears 7.4 times per million words; saloon 2.7 times per million words.
salon 7.4 times per million wordssaloon 2.7 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search salon vs saloon?
“salon vs saloon” is searched about 480 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“saloon vs salon”, “salon or saloon”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.