cathedral

See also: cathédral

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈθiː.dɹəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English cathedral, chathedral, cathiderall, from Old French [Term?], from Latin cathedrālis, from cathedra +‎ -ālis.

Adjective

cathedral (not comparable)

1. Relating to the throne or the see of a bishop.

Related terms

• cathedratic

Translations

relating to the throne or the see of a bishop

• French: cathédral (fr)
• Middle English: cathedral
• Welsh: cadeiriol (cy)

Etymology 2

A large cathedral in Reims, France, with many architectural features traditional to such a structure.

Ellipsis of cathedral church, from Middle English chirche cathederall, cathedrall chirch, calque of Late Latin ecclēsia cathedrālis (“church having a bishop's seat”), from Latin ecclēsia +‎ cathedrālis. Displaced Old English hēafodċiriċe (literally “main church, head church”).

Noun

cathedral (plural cathedrals)

2. The principal church of an archbishop's/bishop's archdiocese/diocese which contains an episcopal throne.
3. (loosely or informally) A large or important church building.
4. (figurative) A large, impressive, lofty, and/or important building or place of some other kind.

   a cathedral of commerce

5. A large buttressed structure built by certain termites.

Derived terms

• cathedral ceiling
• cathedral church
• Cathedral City
• cathedral city
• cathedral close
• cathedraled
• cathedralesque
• cathedralic
• cathedralism
• cathedrallike
• cathedral mound
• cathedral termite
• Cathedraltown
• co-cathedral
• noncathedral
• procathedral
• pro-cathedral
• the cathedral and the bazaar
• Westminster Cathedral

 

Translations

big church building

• Belarusian: сабо́р m (sabór)
• Bulgarian: катедра́ла f (katedrála)
• Catalan: catedral (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大教堂 (zh) (dàjiàotáng)

• Danish: katedral c
• Esperanto: katedralo
• Finnish: kirkko (fi), katedraali (fi)
• French: cathédrale (fr) f
• Greek: καθεδρικός ναός m (kathedrikós naós)
• Hindi: कैथेड्रल (kaitheḍral), गिरजा (hi) m (girjā), गिर्जा (hi) m (girjā), गिरजाघर (hi) m (girjāghar), गिर्जाघर (hi) m (girjāghar), कलीसा f (kalīsā), कलीसिया f (kalīsiyā)
• Ido: katedralo (io)
• Italian: cattedrale (it) f, duomo (it) m
• Khmer: វិសាលវិហារ (visaalvihiə)
• Konkani: इगर्जे (igarje)
• Macedonian: катедра́ла f (katedrála)
• Portuguese: catedral (pt) f
• Romanian: catedrală (ro) f
• Russian: собо́р (ru) m (sobór)
• Spanish: catedral (es) m
• Ukrainian: собо́р (uk) m (sobór)

principal church of a bishop's diocese

• Afrikaans: katedraal (af)
• Albanian: katedrale (sq) f
• Arabic: كَاتِدْرَائِيَّة f (kātidrāʔiyya)

  Hijazi Arabic: كاتدرائيَّة f (kātidrāʔiyya)

• Armenian: մայր տաճար (hy) (mayr tačar)
• Azerbaijani: kafedral
• Basque: katedral (eu)
• Belarusian: сабо́р m (sabór)
• Bengali: ক্যাথেড্রাল (kêtheḍral)
• Breton: iliz-veur f
• Bulgarian: катедра́ла f (katedrála)
• Burmese: ကသီဒရယ် (ka.sida.rai)
• Catalan: catedral (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大教堂 (zh) (dàjiàotáng); 主教座堂 (zhǔjiàozuòtáng)

• Corsican: cattidrale
• Czech: katedrála (cs) f
• Danish: domkirke (da) c, katedral c
• Dutch: kathedraal (nl) f
• Esperanto: katedralo
• Estonian: katedraal (et)
• Finnish: tuomiokirkko (fi), katedraali (fi)
• French: cathédrale (fr) f
• Galician: catedral (gl) f, sé (gl) f
• Georgian: ტაძარი (ṭaʒari)
• German: Kathedrale (de) f, Dom (de) m, Domkirche f, Bischofskirche f
• Greek: μητρόπολη (el) f (mitrópoli), καθεδρικός ναός m (kathedrikós naós), επισκοπή (el) f (episkopí)
• Gujarati: કેથેડ્રલ (ketheḍral)
• Hebrew: קָתֶדרָלָה (he) f (katedrala)
• Hindi: कैथेड्रल (kaitheḍral)
• Hungarian: székesegyház (hu), katedrális (hu), dóm (hu)
• Icelandic: dómkirkja (is) f
• Ido: katedralo (io)
• Indonesian: katedral (id)
• Irish: (historical) An Teampall Mór m, (since the end of the 18th century) ardeaglais f
• Italian: cattedrale (it) f, duomo (it) m
• Japanese: 大聖堂 (ja) (だいせいどう, daiseidō)
• Javanese: katedral
• Kazakh: собор (sobor)
• Khmer: ព្រះវិហារ (km) (prĕəh vihiə)
• Korean: 대성당(大聖堂) (ko) (daeseongdang)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: katedral (ku)

• Kyrgyz: собор (sobor)
• Lao: ໂບດໃຫຍ່ (bōt nyai)
• Latvian: katedrāle
• Lithuanian: katedra (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Kathedral f, Doum m
• Macedonian: катедра́ла f (katedrála), соборна црква f (soborna crkva), соборен храм m (soboren hram)
• Malay: katedral, gereja besar
• Manx: ard-çhiamble m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: чогчин дуган (čogčin dugan)

• Norman: cathédrale f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: katedral (no) m, domkirke m or f

  Nynorsk: katedral m, domkyrkje f

• Occitan: catedrala (oc) f
• Old English: hēafodċiriċe f
• Pashto: لويه کليسا f (loya kalisā)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: کِلیسایِ جامِع (fa) (kelisâ-ye jâme')

• Polish: katedra (pl) f
• Portuguese: catedral (pt) m
• Romanian: catedrală (ro) f
• Russian: собо́р (ru) m (sobór), кафедра́льный собо́р m (kafedrálʹnyj sobór)
• Scottish Gaelic: àrd-eaglais f, cathair-eaglais f, prìomh-eaglais f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: катедра́ла f, са́бор m

  Roman: katedrála (sh) f, sábor (sh) m

• Sicilian: domu (scn) m
• Slovak: katedrála f
• Slovene: katedrala (sl) f
• Spanish: catedral (es) f
• Swahili: kanisa kuu
• Swedish: domkyrka (sv) c, katedral (sv) c
• Tagalog: katedral
• Tajik: собор (sobor)
• Telugu: కేథడ్రల్ (kēthaḍral)
• Thai: อาสนวิหาร (àat-sà-ná-wí-hǎan)
• Turkish: katedral (tr), başkilise (tr)
• Turkmen: sobor, ybadathana
• Ukrainian: собо́р (uk) m (sobór)
• Urdu: کَیتِھڈْرَل (kaithiḍral)
• Uyghur: چوڭ چېركاۋ (chong chërkaw), باش چېركاۋ (bash chërkaw), كافېدرال (kafëdral)
• Uzbek: sobor (uz), ibodathona
• Vietnamese: nhà thờ chính tòa, đại giáo đường, nhà thờ lớn
• Volapük: leglüg (vo)
• Welsh: eglwys gadeiriol f, cadeirlan (cy) f
• West Flemish: kateedroale f
• Yiddish: קאַטעדראַל f (katedral)

Etymology 3

Proper noun

the cathedral

1. (rare) Alternative letter-case form of the Cathedral.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cathederall, cathedrall, cathedralle, cathiderall, chathedral, chathydralle

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cathedral, from Latin cathedrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˌtɛːˈdraːl/, /kaˈtɛːdral/

Adjective

cathedral

1. cathedral (relating to the see of a bishop)

Descendants

• English: cathedral

References

• “cathēdrāl, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.