gondola

See also: góndola, gôndola, and góndoła

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian gondola, from Venetan góndoƚa, from Byzantine Greek κοντούρα (kontoúra, “cutter, kind of ship”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒn.də.lə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

gondola (plural gondolas or gondole)

2. A small long, narrow boat with a high prow and stern, propelled with a single oar, especially in Venice.
4. A hanging platform or car for transporting people or cargo.
   2. An enclosed car attached to a cable mechanically lifted up the side of a mountain; an enclosed ski lift; a cable car.
   4. The car or basket of a hot-air balloon, airship, zeppelin, etc.
   6. The hanging cart in which a glass-cleaning worker stands to clean exterior glass on tall buildings.
   8. That part of a transporter bridge that carries passengers, vehicles, along the length of the bridge span.
6. (rail transport, US) A type of open railway car with low sides, used to carry heavy freight such as crushed rock or steel.
   • 1948, John Steinbeck, chapter 6, in A Russian Journal:

     [on the outskirts of Stalingrad] The railroad paralelled the road, and along the track we saw lines of burned-out gondolas and freight cars which had been destroyed during the war.

   Synonym: gondola car

   Hypernyms: freight car, goods wagon

   Coordinate term: hopper car

7. A free-standing display unit in a supermarket or other retail store, where goods are shelved or hung on pegs or hooks for sale; An end bay; A parasite display.

Synonyms

• (rail transport): gondola car, gon
• (ski lift): cable car

Derived terms

• gondola lift
• gondolier

Translations

narrow boat, especially in Venice

• Albanian: gondolë (sq) f
• Arabic: غندول m, جندول m

  Hijazi Arabic: قُنْدول m (gundōl)

• Armenian: գոնդոլ (hy) (gondol)
• Asturian: góndola f
• Azerbaijani: qondola
• Basque: gondola
• Belarusian: гандола f (handóla)
• Bulgarian: гондола f (gondola)
• Burmese: ဂွန်ဒိုလာ (gwanduila)
• Catalan: góndola f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貢多拉 / 贡多拉 (zh) (gòngduōlā), 剛朵拉 / 刚朵拉 (gāngduǒlā), 共渡樂 / 共渡乐 (gòngdùlè)

• Corsican: gondula f
• Czech: gondola (cs) f
• Danish: gondol (da) c
• Dutch: gondel (nl) f or m
• Esperanto: gondolo
• Estonian: gondel
• Finnish: gondoli (fi)
• French: gondole (fr) f
• Galician: góndola f
• Georgian: გონდოლა (gondola)
• German: Gondel (de) f
• Greek: γόνδολα (el) f (góndola)
• Hebrew: גונדולה (he) f
• Hindi: गोंडोला f (goṇḍolā)
• Hungarian: gondola (hu)
• Ido: gondolo (io)
• Indonesian: gondola (id)
• Italian: gondola (it) f
• Japanese: ゴンドラ (ja) (gondora)
• Korean: 곤돌라 (ko) (gondolla)
• Lithuanian: gondola
• Lombard: gondola (lmo) f
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: gondel

• Macedonian: го́ндола f (góndola)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gondol m

  Nynorsk: gondol m

• Ottoman Turkish: غوندول (gondol)
• Persian: گوندولا (gondolâ)
• Polish: gondola (pl) f
• Portuguese: gôndola (pt) f
• Romanian: gondolă (ro) f
• Russian: гондо́ла (ru) f (gondóla)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: го̑ндола f

  Roman: gȏndola (sh) f

• Slovak: gondola f
• Slovene: gondola f
• Spanish: góndola (es) f
• Swedish: gondol (sv) c
• Tagalog: gondola
• Tamil: கொண்டோலா (koṇṭōlā)
• Telugu: గాండల (gāṇḍala)
• Thai: เรือกอนโดลา (reua gondohlaa)
• Turkish: gondol (tr)
• Ukrainian: гондола f (hondola)
• Uzbek: gondola (uz)
• Venetan: góndoła f, góndoƚa f
• Vietnamese: thuyền gonđon, gonđon
• Volapük: gondol (vo)
• Welsh: gondola
• Yiddish: גאָנדאָלע f (gondole)

enclosed car suspended to a cable onto which it travels

• Dutch: kabelbaan (nl) f, gondellift (nl) m, zweefbaan (nl) f
• French: téléphérique (fr) m, télécabine (fr) f
• German: Seilbahn (de) f
• Macedonian: го́ндола f (góndola)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gondol m

  Nynorsk: gondol m

• Polish: gondola (pl) f
• Russian: гондола (ru) f (gondola)
• Spanish: teleférico (es) m

car or basket of an airship

• Czech: gondola (cs) f
• Dutch: gondel (nl) m or f
• Finnish: gondoli (fi)
• French: nacelle (fr) f
• Macedonian: го́ндола f (góndola), кош (mk) m (koš)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gondol m

  Nynorsk: gondol m

• Polish: gondola (pl) f
• Spanish: barquilla f

part of a transporter bridge that carries

• Finnish: gondoli (fi)
• French: nacelle (fr) f, transbordeur (fr) m

hanging cart in which a worker performs maintenance to an exterior wall of a building

• Finnish: vaunu (fi)
• French: échafaudage suspendu m, échafaud volant m

shelving unit

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gondol m

  Nynorsk: gondol m

Verb

gondola (third-person singular simple present gondolas, present participle gondolaing, simple past and past participle gondolaed)

1. To travel by gondola.

Gallery

• 
  a Venetian gondola
• 
  a rail transport gondola wagon
• 
  a modern airship gondola
• 
  a transporter bridge gondola
• 
  a ski lift gondola
• 
  a window cleaners' gondola

Further reading

• gondola (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Dongola

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian gondola.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡondola]
• Rhymes: -ola
• Hyphenation: gon‧do‧la

Noun

gondola f (diminutive gondolka)

1. gondola (narrow boat, especially in Venice)
2. gondola (car or basket of an airship)
3. (aviation) nacelle (separate streamlined enclosure mounted on an aircraft to house an engine)

Declension

Declension of gondola (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	gondola	gondoly
genitive	gondoly	gondol
dative	gondole	gondolám
accusative	gondolu	gondoly
vocative	gondolo	gondoly
locative	gondole	gondolách
instrumental	gondolou	gondolami

Related terms

• gondoliér m anim

Further reading

• “gondola”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “gondola”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “gondola” in Akademický slovník současné češtiny, 2012–2025, slovnikcestiny.cz
• “gondola”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔ̃.dɔ.la/

Verb

gondola

1. third-person singular past historic of gondoler

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian gondola. First attested in 1612.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡondolɒ]
• Hyphenation: gon‧do‧la
• Rhymes: -lɒ

Noun

gondola (plural gondolák)

1. gondola (a small long, narrow boat with a high prow and stern, propelled with a single oar, especially in Venice)

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	gondola	gondolák
accusative	gondolát	gondolákat
dative	gondolának	gondoláknak
instrumental	gondolával	gondolákkal
causal-final	gondoláért	gondolákért
translative	gondolává	gondolákká
terminative	gondoláig	gondolákig
essive-formal	gondolaként	gondolákként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	gondolában	gondolákban
superessive	gondolán	gondolákon
adessive	gondolánál	gondoláknál
illative	gondolába	gondolákba
sublative	gondolára	gondolákra
allative	gondolához	gondolákhoz
elative	gondolából	gondolákból
delative	gondoláról	gondolákról
ablative	gondolától	gondoláktól
non-attributive possessive – singular	gondoláé	gondoláké
non-attributive possessive – plural	gondoláéi	gondolákéi

Possessive forms of gondola

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	gondolám	gondoláim
2nd person sing.	gondolád	gondoláid
3rd person sing.	gondolája	gondolái
1st person plural	gondolánk	gondoláink
2nd person plural	gondolátok	gondoláitok
3rd person plural	gondolájuk	gondoláik

Derived terms

• gondolás
• gondolázik

Further reading

• gondola in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Venetan góndoła, probably from Byzantine Greek κοντούρα (kontoúra, “small tail”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡon.do.la/
• Rhymes: -ondola
• Hyphenation: gón‧do‧la

Noun

gondola f (plural gondole)

1. gondola (narrow boat in Venice)
2. nacelle (aircraft engine)
3. pod

Derived terms

• gondoletta
• gondoliere
• gondolino
• gondolone

Anagrams

• dolgano

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian gondola, from Venetan góndoła, probably from Byzantine Greek κοντούρα (kontoúra, “small tail”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔnˈdɔ.la/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔla
• Syllabification: gon‧do‧la

Noun

gondola f (diminutive gondolka)

1. gondola (narrow boat, especially in Venice)
2. gondola (enclosed car attached to a cable mechanically lifted up the side of a mountain)
3. gondola (car or basket of an airship)

Declension

Declension of gondola

	singular	plural
nominative	gondola	gondole
genitive	gondoli	gondoli
dative	gondoli	gondolom
accusative	gondolę	gondole
instrumental	gondolą	gondolami
locative	gondoli	gondolach
vocative	gondolo	gondole

Derived terms

adjective

• gondolowy

Related terms

adjective

• gondolierski

nouns

• gondolier
• gondoliera

Further reading

• gondola in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gondola in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡɔndɔla]

Noun

gondola f (diminutive gondolka)

1. gondola

Declension

Declension of gondola
(pattern žena)

	singular	plural
nominative	gondola	gondoly
genitive	gondoly	gondol
dative	gondole	gondolám
accusative	gondolu	gondoly
locative	gondole	gondolách
instrumental	gondolou	gondolami

Further reading

• “gondola”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025