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balcony

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Neoclassical balcony in Paris
Art Nouveau balcony in Paris
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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *balkô
Frankish *balkōbor.
Medieval Latin balcōbor.
Italian balconebor.
English balcony

    From Italian balcone (“balcony, floor-length window”), from Old Italian balcone (“scaffold”) from Lombardic *balk, *balko (“beam”), from Proto-Germanic *balkô (“beam”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, pile, prop”). Akin to Old High German balco, balcho (“beam”), Old English balca (“beam, ridge”). More at balk.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    balcony (plural balconies)

    2. (architecture) An accessible structure extending from a building, especially outside a window.
      • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 132:
        I sprang a step forward; when two shadows were distinctly traced on the moonlit myrtle! Then two figures stood upon the balcony. A young cavalier jumped from the balustrade, and hurried down the path that led to the garden, where I well remember a gate opened on an unfrequented lane.
      • 2002, The Message translation of The Bible, Book of Acts 10:9–13
        The next day as the three travelers were approaching the town, Peter went out on the balcony to pray.
      • 2022 June 16, Issy Ronald, “Meet the parkour athletes defying fear and gravity at Red Bull Art of Motion”, in CNN‎[1], archived from the original on 26 June 2022:
        Its old town rises out of the Aegean Sea towards a clifftop Venetian castle in a jumble of white-washed narrow streets, flat rooftops and balconies that provide a perfect, obstacle-filled arena for parkour.
      • 2025 October 23, Pierre P Bairin, Catherine Nicholls, Hilary Whiteman, “No security cameras covered Louvre balcony where thieves entered, director says”, in CNN‎[2], archived from the original on 28 November 2025:
        No security cameras were monitoring the second-floor balcony where thieves gained access to the Louvre to steal historic jewels worth over $100 million, the museum’s director told a French Senate committee hearing.
    3. An accessible structure overlooking a stage or the like.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
        Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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