aureola

See also: auréola, aurèola, aureolá, aureolă, and aureolą

English

A statue of the Virgin Mary with an aureola.

Alternative forms

• aureole

Etymology

From Latin aurea (“golden”) +‎ -ola.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈɹiː.ə.lə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɔˈɹiː.ə.lə/, (cot–caught merger) /ɑˈɹiː.ə.lə/

Noun

aureola (plural aureolas or aureolae)

1. Radiance of luminous cloud that surrounds the figure in a painting of a sacred personage.
2. (theology) An increment to the ordinary blessedness of heaven gained by virgins, martyrs, and doctors for their triumph respectively over the flesh, the world, and the devil.

Usage notes

• Distinct from the nimbus, which only covers the head.
• Not to be confused with areola.

Translations

luminous cloud

• Bulgarian: орео́л (bg) m (oreól)
• Catalan: aurèola (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 光環 / 光环 (zh) (guānghuán), 光輪 / 光轮 (zh) (guānglún)

• Czech: aureola (cs) f, nimbus (cs) m, svatozář (cs) f
• French: auréole (fr) f
• Galician: auréola f
• German: Heiligenschein (de) m, Strahlenkranz m, Glorie (de) f
• Italian: aureola (it) f
• Japanese: 円光 (ja) (えんこう, enkō)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: glorie m

  Nynorsk: glorie m or f

• Polish: aureola (pl) f
• Portuguese: auréola (pt) f
• Russian: орео́л (ru) m (oreól), нимб (ru) m (nimb), а́ура (ru) f (áura)
• Spanish: aureola (es) f
• Turkish: hale (tr)

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /awˈrɛ.o.la/
• Rhymes: -ɛola
• Hyphenation: au‧rè‧o‧la

Noun

aureola f (plural aureole)

1. halo
2. aureole
3. aura

Latin

Adjective

aureola

1. inflection of aureolus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Adjective

aureolā

1. ablative feminine singular of aureolus

References

• "aureola", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Polish

aureola

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin aureola corōna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aw.rɛˈɔ.la/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔla
• Syllabification: au‧re‧o‧la

Noun

aureola f (diminutive aureolka)

1. (art, Christianity) aureole, glory, halo, nimbus (luminous disc around the heads of saints in sacred art)

   Synonyms: gloria, nimb, nimbus

2. (literary) aureole, halo, nimbus (light circle around some sources of light)
3. (literary) aureole (hair resembling a halo around the heads of saints)
4. (literary) halo (the metaphorical aura of glory)

   Synonyms: gloria, chwała, nimb, sława, splendor

Declension

Declension of aureola

	singular	plural
nominative	aureola	aureole
genitive	aureoli	aureoli
dative	aureoli	aureolom
accusative	aureolę	aureole
instrumental	aureolą	aureolami
locative	aureoli	aureolach
vocative	aureolo	aureole

Further reading

• “aureola”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “aureola”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Verb

aureola

1. inflection of aureolar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French auréoler.

Verb

a aureola (third-person singular present aureolează, past participle aureolat) 1st conjugation

1. to surround with a halo
2. to glorify

Conjugation

    conjugation of aureola (first conjugation, -ez- infix)

infinitive			a aureola
gerund			aureolând
past participle			aureolat
number		singular			plural
person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	aureolez	aureolezi	aureolează	aureolăm	aureolați	aureolează
	imperfect	aureolam	aureolai	aureola	aureolam	aureolați	aureolau
	simple perfect	aureolai	aureolași	aureolă	aureolarăm	aureolarăți	aureolară
	pluperfect	aureolasem	aureolaseși	aureolase	aureolaserăm	aureolaserăți	aureolaseră
subjunctive		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	să aureolez	să aureolezi	să aureoleze	să aureolăm	să aureolați	să aureoleze
imperative		—	tu	—	—	voi	—
	affirmative		aureolează			aureolați
	negative		nu aureola			nu aureolați

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aurěola/
• Hyphenation: a‧u‧re‧o‧la

Noun

aurèola f (Cyrillic spelling аурѐола)

1. aureola, halo

Declension

Declension of aureola

	singular	plural
nominative	aureola	aureole
genitive	aureole	aureola
dative	aureoli	aureolama
accusative	aureolu	aureole
vocative	aureolo	aureole
locative	aureoli	aureolama
instrumental	aureolom	aureolama

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /auɾeˈola/ [au̯.ɾeˈo.la]
• Rhymes: -ola
• Syllabification: au‧re‧o‧la

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin aureola.

Noun

aureola f (plural aureolas)

1. halo (luminous disc around the heads of saints)
2. (anatomy) areola

   Synonym: areola

3. (astronomy) corona

   Synonym: corona

Derived terms

• aureolar

Etymology 2

Verb

aureola

1. inflection of aureolar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “aureola”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025