Parlour (or parlor), the name used for a variety of different reception rooms and public spaces in different historical periods.

Parlour derives from the Old French word parleor or parler ("to speak"), and entered English around the turn of the 13th century In its original usage it denoted a place set aside for speaking with someone, an "audience chamber".

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. The "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery. It was generally located in the west range of the buildings of the cloister, close to the main entrance. The "inner parlour" was located off the cloister next to the chapter house in the east range of the monastery and was used for necessary conversation between resident members.