On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Parlor coffee medieval Christian Europe, the “outer parlour” was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the “inner parlour” was used for necessary conversation between resident members.

English language around the turn of the 16th century. The first known use of the word to denote a room was in medieval Christian Europe, when it designated the two rooms in a monastery where clergy, constrained by vow or regulation from speaking otherwise in the cloister, were allowed to converse without disturbing their fellows. It was the function of the “outer parlour” as the public antechamber of the monastery that was adapted into domestic architecture. In the early modern period homes became larger and concepts of privacy evolved as material prosperity was more widely shared.

Rooms were increasingly set aside for the reception of guests and other visitors, screening them from the rest of the home. In the English-speaking world of the 18th and 19th century, having a parlour room was evidence of social status. It was proof that one had risen above those who lived in one or two rooms. The parlour was used for receptions on formal family occasions such as weddings, births and funerals. In the 20th century, the increasing use of the telephone and automobiles, as well as the increasing casualness of society, led to the decline of formal reception rooms in domestic architecture in English-speaking countries.