fanlight

English

A fanlight in Bilbao, Spain.

Etymology

From fan + light (“window”).

Noun

fanlight (plural fanlights)

1. a semicircular or semioval window over a door or other window, normally having a fan-like structure of ribs; sometimes hinged to the transom
   • 1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 65:

     This street is Summer. Faces of brick run together to make a single block-long face. The house numbers are set in fanlights of stained glass above the doors.

   • 1982, John Banville, The Newton Letter:

     It turned out to be a big gloomy pile with ivy and peeling walls and a smashed fanlight over the door, the kind of place where you picture a mad stepdaughter locked up in the attic.

2. an electric fan, usually a ceiling fan, that is also a light fixture

Hypernyms

• light

Derived terms

• dummy fanlight

Translations

semioval window with a fan-like structure of ribs

• French: fenêtre en éventail
• Irish: fuinneog fhardorais f
• Spanish: montante (es)