voussoir

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English

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Voussoirs forming a stable arch; there are special terms for the voussoirs at the base of the arch and for the (usually single) voussoir at the top centre

Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French voussoir, from Old French vosoir, from Vulgar Latin *volsorium, from *volsus, from Latin volvō (I roll).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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voussoir (plural voussoirs)

  1. (architecture) One of a series of wedge-shaped bricks or stones forming an arch or vault. [from 1728]
    • 1977, Jaques Heyman, Equilibrium of Shell Structures, Clarendon Press, Oxford, page 2:
      It is the voussoir depth in a real arch which enables the arch to carry wider ranges of loading; a large number of different idealized centre-line arches can be contained within a given practical profile. ...[T]his must be so, or no mediaeval bridge would have survived its decentering.
    • 2020 May 20, Philip Haigh, “Ribblehead: at the heart of the S&C's survival and its revival: Ribblehead Viaduct repairs”, in Rail, page 26:
      Other areas have mortar joints missing, including between the voussoir blocks forming the edge of the arches on either side of the pier.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French vosoir, from Vulgar Latin *volsorium, from *volsus, from Latin volvō (to roll).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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voussoir m (plural voussoirs)

  1. (architecture) voussoir

Further reading

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