belfry

English

Etymology

From Middle English belfry, bellfray, belfray, berfrey, barfray, from Old French belfroi, berfroi, berfrey, from Late Latin berfrēdus, from Frankish *bergafriþu, from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz, equivalent to barrow +‎ frith. English forms containing bel- as opposed to ber- were preferred due to false association with English bell. Cognate with Middle High German bërcvrit, bërvrit (“defensive tower”) (modern German Bergfried), Middle Dutch bergfrede, bergfert. Doublet of bergfried.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛlfɹi/, enPR: bĕlʹfrē

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlfɹi

Noun

belfry (plural belfries)

1. (architecture) A tower or steeple typically containing bells, especially as part of a church.
   • 2023 August 31, William Meny & Paul Simms, “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor” (9:33 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[1], season 5, episode 9, spoken by The Guide (Kristen Schaal):

     “You know, this house does have a belfry filled with local bats. Maybe Laszlo went up there.” “Oh, so like my darling perverted husband, to sniff out the local bordello immediately upon arrival. [chuckles] Could you take me to the belfry?”

2. (architecture) A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.

3. (dialectal) A shed.
4. (obsolete) A movable tower used in sieges.
5. (obsolete) An alarm-tower; a watchtower possibly containing an alarm-bell.

Derived terms

• belfried
• have bats in one's belfry, have bats in the belfry

Translations

tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church

• Bulgarian: камбанария (kambanarija)
• Catalan: campanar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鐘樓 / 钟楼 (zh) (zhōnglóu)

• Danish: klokketårn (da) n
• Dutch: klokkentoren (nl) m, belfort (nl) m
• Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
• French: beffroi (fr) m
• Friulian: cjampanîli, cjampanili, cjampanîl, cjampanil
• German: Glockenturm (de) m
• Greek: καμπαναριό (el) n (kampanarió), κωδωνοστάσιο (el) n (kodonostásio)
• Hungarian: harangtorony (hu)
• Irish: clogás m
• Istriot: canpaneîl, canpanèil
• Italian: campanile (it) m
• Japanese: 鐘楼 (ja) (しょうろう, shōrō)
• Macedonian: камбанарија (mk) f (kambanarija)
• Manx: claggys m, thie cluig m, shamyr chluig f
• Māori: pourewa pere
• Pannonian Rusyn: дзвонїца f (dzvonjica)
• Polish: dzwonnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: campanário (pt) m, torre sineira f
• Romansh: clutger m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), clucher m (Puter, Vallader)
• Russian: колоко́льня (ru) f (kolokólʹnja)
• Spanish: campanil (es), campanario (es), clochel m, espadaña (es) f
• Swedish: klocktorn (sv), klockstapel (sv) c
• Tagalog: batingawan
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: چاكلق (çañlık)

• Ukrainian: дзвіни́ця (uk) f (dzvinýcja)
• Venetan: canpanil, canpanile, canpanièl, canpaniłe
• Welsh: clochdy m

part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells

• Bulgarian: камбанария (kambanarija)
• Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
• French: clocher (fr) m
• German: Glockenstube (de) f
• Greek: κωδωνοστάσιο (el) n (kodonostásio)
• Hungarian: harangtorony (hu)
• Irish: clogás m
• Japanese: 鐘楼 (ja) (しょうろう, shōrō)
• Māori: pourewa pere
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: klokkerom n

  Nynorsk: klokkerom n

• Pannonian Rusyn: дзвонїца f (dzvonjica)
• Portuguese: campanário (pt) m
• Romansh: clutger m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), clucher m (Puter, Vallader)
• Spanish: campanario (es) m, espadaña (es) f, campanil (es) m, clochel m
• Tagalog: batingawan
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: چاكلق (çañlık)

moveable tower used in sieges

• Bulgarian: обсадна кула (obsadna kula)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 攻城塔

• Finnish: piiritystorni
• French: beffroi (fr) m
• German: Belagerungsturm (de) m

watchtower containing an alarm-bell

• Bulgarian: наблюдателна кула (nabljudatelna kula)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瞭望塔 / 了望塔 (zh)

• Dutch: belfort (nl) n
• Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
• French: beffroi (fr) m
• German: Bergfried (de) m

References

• Michael Quinion (2004), “Belfry”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.