means A hovel is a small, wretchedly built dwelling — cramped, dirty, and barely fit to live in.

from From Middle English 'hovel,' meaning a shed or open shelter for animals or storage. Its deeper roots are uncertain — possibly a diminutive related to 'hof,' an old word for an enclosure or yard, but the trail goes cold before we can be sure. Originally just a humble outbuilding, it slid downhill over the centuries until it came to mean any miserable little hut a person was unlucky enough to call home.