parapet

English

Modern parapet around a New York City rooftop (2)

A parapet on a trench made of sandbags (3)

Etymology

From Middle French parapet, from Italian parapetto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.ə.pɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

parapet (plural parapets)

1. A low protective wall.
   • 2020 August 26, “Mid-September before line reopens, says Network Rail”, in Rail, page 11:

     Engineers will be closely checking the bridge for damage beyond the obvious smashed parapets.

   Hyponym: balustrade

   Coordinate term: railing

2. Part of a perimeter that extends above the roof.
   • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 26, in The Dust of Conflict‎^[1]:

     Maccario, it was evident, did not care to take the risk of blundering upon a picket, and a man led them by twisting paths until at last the hacienda rose blackly before them. Appleby could see it dimly, a blur of shadowy buildings with the ridge of roof parapet alone cutting hard and sharp against the clearing sky.

3. (military) A fortification consisting of a wall.

   Synonym: breastwork

   • 1938, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Homage to Catalonia‎^[2], London: Secker & Warburg:

     Obviously if you have only a few days in which to train a soldier, you must teach him the things he will most need; how to take cover, how to advance across open ground, how to mount guards and build a parapet – above all, how to use his weapons.

Derived terms

• keep one's head below the parapet

Translations

a low retaining wall

• Bulgarian: парапет (bg) m (parapet)
• Catalan: ampit (ca) m
• Finnish: parapetti (fi)
• French: parapet (fr) m
• German: Brüstung (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: εἶλαρ n (eîlar)

• Irish: uchtbhalla m

• Italian: parapetto (it) m, ringhiera (it) f, spalletta f, balaustra (it) f
• Polish: murek (pl) m, gzyms (pl) m
• Portuguese: parapeito (pt) m
• Romanian: parapet (ro) n
• Russian: парапе́т (ru) m (parapét), пери́ла (ru) n pl (períla)
• Spanish: parapeto (es) m
• Welsh: mur canllaw

a fortification consisting of a wall

• Bulgarian: бруствер m (brustver)
• Catalan: parapet (ca) m
• Finnish: rintavarustus (fi), parapetti (fi)
• French: parapet (fr) m
• German: Wehrmauer f
• Irish: uchtbharr m
• Italian: parapetto (it) m
• Maori: parepare, pātatara

• Polish: parapet (pl) m, przedpiersie n
• Portuguese: parapeito (pt) m
• Romanian: parapet (ro) n
• Russian: бру́ствер (ru) m (brústver)
• Spanish: parapeto (es) m
• Welsh: rhagfur m, parapet m

Further reading

• parapet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “parapet”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

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Czech

Noun

parapet m inan

1. windowsill, parapet

Declension

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	parapet	parapety
genitive	parapetu	parapetů
dative	parapetu	parapetům
accusative	parapet	parapety
vocative	parapete	parapety
locative	parapetu	parapetech
instrumental	parapetem	parapety

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian parapetto, from parare (“to shield”) + petto (“chest”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.ʁa.pɛ/

Noun

parapet m (plural parapets)

1. parapet

Further reading

• “parapet” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• appâter, apprêta

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Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from French parapet, from Italian parapetto.

Noun

parapet m (plural parapets)

1. (Jersey) parapet

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Polish

parapet

Etymology

From French parapet, from Italian parapetto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paˈra.pɛt/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

parapet m inan (diminutive parapecik)

1. sill, windowsill

   Synonym: podokiennik

Declension

Declension of parapet

	singular	plural
nominative	parapet	parapety
genitive	parapetu	parapetów
dative	parapetowi	parapetom
accusative	parapet	parapety
instrumental	parapetem	parapetami
locative	parapecie	parapetach
vocative	parapecie	parapety

Derived terms

• (nouns) parapetówka, parapetówa
• (adjective) parapetowy

Further reading

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