nave

See also: Nave, näve, nāve, nāvē, and navé

English

The nave of a church in Ellmau, Austria

Pronunciation

• enPR: nāv, IPA^(key): /neɪv/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪv
• Homophone: knave

Etymology 1

Ultimately from Latin nāvem, singular accusative of nāvis, possibly via a Romance source. Doublet of nef and nau.

Noun

nave (plural naves)

1. (architecture) The middle or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […] , down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

2. (architecture) The ground-level middle cavity of a barn.

Derived terms

• double-nave

Translations

the middle or body of a church

• Albanian: anijatë (sq) f, nef (sq) m
• Arabic: صَحْن (ar) m (ṣaḥn)
• Armenian: նավ (hy) (nav)
• Basque: habearte
• Belarusian: неф m (njef), нэф m (nef)
• Breton: nev (br) f
• Bulgarian: неф m (nef)
• Catalan: nau (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 中殿 (zhōngdiàn)

• Czech: loď (cs) f
• Danish: skib (da) n
• Dutch: schip (nl) n
• Esperanto: navo (eo)
• Estonian: lööv
• Finnish: laiva (fi), päälaiva
• French: nef (fr) f
• Galician: nave (gl) f
• Georgian: ნეფი (nepi)
• German: Schiff (de) n
• Greek: ναυς (el) f (nafs)
• Hebrew: סְפִינָה (he) f (sfiná)
• Hungarian: hajó (hu), templomhajó (hu)
• Ido: navo (io)
• Irish: corp na heaglaise m, meánlann f
• Italian: navata (it)
• Japanese: 身廊 (しんろう, shinrō)
• Korean: 신랑(身廊) (ko) (sillang)
• Latin: nāvis (la) f
• Latvian: ratu rumba f
• Lithuanian: nava (lt) f
• Macedonian: кораб m (korab), брод (mk) m (brod)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: midtskip n

  Nynorsk: midskip n, midtskip n

• Polish: nawa główna f, nawa (pl) f
• Portuguese: nave (pt) f
• Romanian: naos (ro) n, navă (ro) f
• Russian: неф (ru) m (nɛf), кора́бль (ru) m (koráblʹ), ладья́ (ru) f (ladʹjá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бро̑д m, ла̑ђа f

  Roman: brȏd (sh) m, lȃđa (sh) f

• Slovak: loď (sk) f
• Slovene: ladja (sl) f
• Sogdian: [script needed] (hyklʾ /⁠heykala⁠/)
• Spanish: nave (es) f
• Swedish: skepp (sv) n
• Tagalog: nabe
• Turkish: kilise ortası
• Ukrainian: неф m (nef), на́ва (uk) f (náva)
• Welsh: corff (cy) m

Etymology 2

From Middle English nave, from Old English nafu, from Proto-West Germanic *nabu, from Proto-Germanic *nabō (compare Dutch naaf, German Nabe, Swedish nav), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nebʰ- (“navel, hub”) (compare Latin umbō (“shield boss”), Latvian naba, Sanskrit नभ्य (nabhya)).

Wheel showing nave at centre

Noun

nave (plural naves)

1. A hub of a wheel.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     'Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,
     In general synod take away her power;
     Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
     And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven […]

2. (obsolete) The navel.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     Till he faced the slave; / Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, / Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, / And fix'd his head upon our battlements

Related terms

• navel

Translations

hub of a wheel

• Bulgarian: глави́на (bg) f (glavína)
• Danish: nav (da) n
• Dutch: naaf (nl) f
• Esperanto: nabo (eo)
• Finnish: napa (fi)
• French: moyeu (fr) m
• German: Nabe (de) f
• Greek: αφαλός (el) m (afalós)

  Ancient: χνόη f (khnóē), χοινικίς f (khoinikís)

• Ido: nabo (io)
• Italian: mozzo (it) m
• Japanese: 轂 (ja) (こしき, koshiki)
• Kazakh: күпшек (küpşek)
• Kyrgyz: күпчөк (küpcök)
• Middle English: nave
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nav n

  Nynorsk: nav n

• Ottoman Turkish: پویرا (poyra), دولك (dülek)
• Polish: piasta (pl) f
• Russian: ступи́ца (ru) f (stupíca), вту́лка (ru) f (vtúlka)
• Scottish Gaelic: cìoch f
• Swedish: nav (sv) n
• Tatar: көпчәк (tt) (köpçäk)
• Turkish: poyra (tr), dülek (tr)

Further reading

• nave on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• e-van, Neva, Vane, neva, vane, Evan, Aven, aven, Vena, vena

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin nāvis, nāvem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnabe/ [ˈna.β̞e]
• Rhymes: -abe
• Syllabification: na‧ve

Noun

nave f (plural naves)

1. ship
2. industrial building

   Neses naves del polígunu fain planches de fierro vieyo qu'atopen perahi

   In those industrial buildings they make plates from old iron that they find around.

Aulua

Noun

nave

1. water
   • (Can we date this quote?) Martin Pavior-Smith, Exploring self-concept and narrator characterisation in Aulua (nave):

     Nave ibtavov ben.

     The water went [=was swept] out [of the house].

Further reading

• Darrell T. Tryon, New Hebrides languages: an internal classification (1976) (na-βʷe); ABVD 1 (na-fe), 2 (na-ve), 3 (na-ve)

Galician

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese nave, from Latin nāvis, nāvem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnabe/ [ˈna.β̞ɪ]
• Rhymes: -abe
• Hyphenation: na‧ve

Noun

nave f (plural naves)

1. ship (watercraft or airship)
2. (architecture) nave

Related terms

• navegar

Further reading

• “nave”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• “nave” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).

Interlingua

Noun

nave (plural naves)

1. ship

Italian

Etymology

From Latin nāvem, from Proto-Italic *naus ~ *nāwis, from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us, derived from the root *(s)neh₂- (“to swim, float”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈna.ve/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ave
• Hyphenation: nà‧ve

Noun

nave f (plural navi)

1. ship

Derived terms

• nave ammiraglia
• nave costiera
• nave scuola
• navicella

Related terms

• nausea
• nautica
• navale
• navigare
• naviglio

Descendants

• → Slavomolisano: nava

Anagrams

• Neva, vane, vena

Ladino

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish naf, naue, from Latin nāvem, nāvis, from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Cognate with English nave, navigate, and navy.

Noun

nave f (Hebrew spelling נאב׳י)

1. (nautical) ship (a water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat)

   Synonyms: barko, navío, vapor

   • 19th century, Sa'adi Besalel a-Levi, translated by Isaac Jerusalmi, edited by Aron Rodrigue, Sarah Abrevaya Stein, A Jewish Voice from Ottoman Salonica: The Ladino Memoir of Sa'adi Besalel A-Levi‎^[1], Stanford University Press, published 2012, →ISBN, page 276:

     I ala onze [6 AM], ala turka, vinyeron en grande akompanyamyento delos askyeres turkos adelantre i detras, kompanyas de soldados de kada nasyon ke fueron dezbarkados delas naves, djunto todos los viche-amirales i komandantes, i ofisyeres de kada nave ke se topo en muestro porto.

     And at eleven [6 A.M.], a great escort of Turkish soldiers came ahead of and behind the Turk; companies of soldiers from every nation disembarked from the ships, together with all the vice-admirals, commanders, and officers from every ship found in our port.

Latin

Noun

nāve

1. ablative singular of navis

References

• “nave”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nave”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nave in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• nawe
• naf, naff, naffe (Northern)

Etymology

From Old English nafu, from Proto-West Germanic *nabu, from Proto-Germanic *nabō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaːv(ə)/
• (Northern) IPA^(key): /naf/

Noun

nave (plural naves)

1. nave (hub of a wheel)

Related terms

• nauger
• navel

Descendants

• English: nave
• Scots: naff

References

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

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈnave/

Verb

nave

1. inflection of navvit:
   1. present indicative connegative
   2. second-person singular imperative
   3. imperative connegative

Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese nave, from Latin nāvis, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Doublet of nau.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈna.vi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈna.vi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈna.ve/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈna.vɨ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈna.vɨ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈna.bɨ/ [ˈna.βɨ]

• Rhymes: -avi, -avɨ
• Hyphenation: na‧ve

Noun

nave f (plural naves)

1. ship

   Synonyms: barco, navio

2. (architecture) nave, aisle
3. (Brazil, slang) car
4. (colloquial, usually in science fiction) Ellipsis of nave espacial (“spaceship”).

Related terms

• astronave
• espaçonave
• naval
• nave espacial
• navegar
• navio

Scots

Etymology

From Old Norse hnefi.

Noun

nave (plural naves)

1. (Orkney) a clenched fist or a handful

   ah'll cheust tak a nave-fil ― I'll just take a handful

   He wis rorrin' and shaftin' his nave ― he was shouting and shaking his fist

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish naf, naue, from Latin nāvem, nāvis, from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Cognate with English nave, navigate, and navy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnabe/ [ˈna.β̞e]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -abe
• Syllabification: na‧ve

Noun

nave f (plural naves)

1. ship, vessel (with a concave hull)

   Synonyms: bajel, barco, buque, navío, nao

2. craft, spaceship, spacecraft (ellipsis of nave espacial), starship (ellipsis of nave estelar)
3. (architecture, religion) nave, aisle

Hyponyms

• aeronave
• astronave
• cosmonave
• nave de carga (“space cargo ship, space freighter”)
• nave espacial
• nave estelar
• nave nodriza (“mothership”)

Derived terms

• cocina de la nave (“galley”)
• nave industrial (“industrial building, industrial unit”)
• quemar las naves

Related terms

• naval
• navegación
• navegar
• navigar
• navío

Further reading

• “nave”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10