A small house or cottage, typically with a sloping roof and overhanging eaves, often used as a vacation home in the mountains.
From French 'chalet,' from Swiss French, ultimately from Latin 'casula' meaning 'small cottage.' The word came to English via French mountaineering vocabulary.
The classic chalet style with its steep roof and wide overhangs was literally designed to handle heavy mountain snow—form follows function! Now 'chalet' has become code for 'cozy mountain vacation' everywhere, even in places that never invented them.
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