cathedral

See also: cathédral

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈθiː.dɹəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English cathedral, chathedral, cathiderall, from Old French [Term?], from Latin cathedrālis, from cathedra +‎ -ālis.

Adjective

cathedral (not comparable)

1. Relating to the throne or the see of a bishop.

Related terms

• cathedratic

Translations

relating to the throne or the see of a bishop

• French: cathédral (fr)
• Middle English: cathedral
• Welsh: cadeiriol (cy)

Etymology 2

Ellipsis of cathedral church, from Middle English chirche cathederall, cathedrall chirch, calque of Late Latin ecclēsia cathedrālis (“church having a bishop's seat”), from Latin ecclēsia +‎ cathedrālis. Displaced Old English hēafodċiriċe (literally “main church”).

A large cathedral in Reims, France, with many architectural features traditional to such a structure.

Noun

cathedral (plural cathedrals)

1. The principal church of an archbishop's/bishop's archdiocese/diocese which contains an episcopal throne.
2. (loosely or informally) A large or important church building.
3. (figurative) A large, impressive, lofty, and/or important building or place of some other kind.

   a cathedral of commerce

4. A large buttressed structure built by certain termites.

Derived terms

• cathedral ceiling
• cathedral city
• cathedral close
• cathedral mound
• cathedral termite
• co-cathedral
• pro-cathedral
• the cathedral and the bazaar

 

Translations

big church building

• Belarusian: сабо́р m (sabór)
• Bulgarian: катедра́ла f (katedrála)
• Catalan: catedral (ca) f
• Danish: katedral c
• Esperanto: katedralo
• Finnish: kirkko (fi), katedraali (fi)
• French: cathédrale (fr) f
• Greek: καθεδρικός ναός m (kathedrikós naós)
• Hindi: कैथेड्रल (kaitheḍral), गिरजा (hi) m (girjā), गिर्जा (hi) m (girjā), गिरजाघर (hi) m (girjāghar), गिर्जाघर (hi) m (girjāghar), कलीसा f (kalīsā), कलीसिया f (kalīsiyā)
• Italian: cattedrale (it) f
• Khmer: វិសាលវិហារ (visaalvihiə)
• Konkani: इगर्जे (igarje)
• Macedonian: катедра́ла f (katedrála)
• Portuguese: catedral (pt) f
• Romanian: catedrală (ro) f
• Russian: собо́р (ru) m (sobór)
• Spanish: catedral (es) m
• Ukrainian: собо́р (uk) m (sobór)

principal church of a bishop's diocese

• Afrikaans: katedraal (af)
• Albanian: katedrale (sq) f
• Arabic: كَاتِدْرَائِيَّة‎ f (kātidrāʔiyya)

  Hijazi Arabic: كاتدرائيَّة‎ f (kātidrāʔiyya)

• Armenian: մայր տաճար (hy) (mayr tačar)
• Azerbaijani: kafedral
• Basque: katedral (eu)
• Belarusian: сабо́р m (sabór)
• Bengali: ক্যাথেড্রাল (kêtheḍral)
• Breton: iliz-veur f
• Bulgarian: катедра́ла f (katedrála)
• Burmese: ကသီဒရယ် (ka.sida.rai)
• Catalan: catedral (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大教堂 (zh) (dàjiàotáng); 主教座堂 (zhǔjiàozuòtáng)

• Corsican: cattidrale
• Czech: katedrála (cs) f
• Danish: domkirke (da) c, katedral c
• Dutch: kathedraal (nl) f
• Esperanto: katedralo
• Estonian: katedraal (et)
• Finnish: tuomiokirkko (fi), katedraali (fi)
• French: cathédrale (fr) f
• Galician: catedral (gl) f, sé (gl) f
• Georgian: ტაძარი (ṭaʒari)
• German: Kathedrale (de) f, Dom (de) m, Domkirche f, Bischofskirche f
• Greek: μητρόπολη (el) f (mitrópoli), καθεδρικός ναός m (kathedrikós naós), επισκοπή (el) f (episkopí)
• Gujarati: કેથેડ્રલ (ketheḍral)
• Hebrew: קָתֶדרָלָה‎ (he) f (katedrala)
• Hindi: कैथेड्रल (kaitheḍral)
• Hungarian: székesegyház (hu), katedrális (hu), dóm (hu)
• Icelandic: dómkirkja (is) f
• Ido: katedralo (io)
• Indonesian: katedral (id)
• Irish: (historical) An Teampall Mór m, (since the end of the 18th century) ardeaglais f
• Italian: cattedrale (it) f, duomo (it) m
• Japanese: 大聖堂 (ja) (だいせいどう, daiseidō)
• Javanese: katedral
• Kazakh: собор (sobor)
• Khmer: ព្រះវិហារ (km) (prĕəh vihiə)
• Korean: 대성당(大聖堂) (ko) (daeseongdang)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: katedral (ku)

• Kyrgyz: собор (sobor)
• Lao: ໂບດໃຫຍ່ (bōt nyai)
• Latvian: katedrāle
• Lithuanian: katedra (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Kathedral f, Doum m
• Macedonian: катедра́ла f (katedrála), соборна црква f (soborna crkva), соборен храм m (soboren hram)
• Malay: katedral, gereja besar
• Manx: ard-çhiamble m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: чогчин дуган (čogčin dugan)

• Norman: cathédrale f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: katedral (no) m, domkirke m or f

  Nynorsk: katedral m, domkyrkje f

• Occitan: catedrala (oc) f
• Old English: hēafodċiriċe f
• Pashto: لويه کليسا‎ f (lóya kalisã)
• Persian: کلیسای جامع‎ (fa) (kelisâ-ye jâme')
• Polish: katedra (pl) f
• Portuguese: catedral (pt) m
• Romanian: catedrală (ro) f
• Russian: собо́р (ru) m (sobór), кафедра́льный собо́р m (kafedrálʹnyj sobór)
• Scottish Gaelic: àrd-eaglais f, cathair-eaglais f, prìomh-eaglais f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: катедра́ла f, са́бор m

  Roman: katedrála (sh) f, sábor (sh) m

• Sicilian: domu (scn) m
• Slovak: katedrála f
• Slovene: katedrala (sl) f
• Spanish: catedral (es) f
• Swedish: domkyrka (sv) c, katedral (sv) c
• Tagalog: katedral
• Tajik: собор (sobor)
• Telugu: కేథడ్రల్ (kēthaḍral)
• Thai: อาสนวิหาร (àat-sà-ná-wí-hǎan)
• Turkish: katedral (tr), başkilise (tr)
• Turkmen: sobor, ybadathana
• Ukrainian: собо́р (uk) m (sobór)
• Urdu: کیتھیڈرل‎ (kaitheḍral)
• Uyghur: چوڭ چېركاۋ‎ (chong chërkaw), باش چېركاۋ‎ (bash chërkaw), كافېدرال‎ (kafëdral)
• Uzbek: sobor (uz), ibodathona
• Vietnamese: nhà thờ chính tòa, đại giáo đường, nhà thờ lớn
• Volapük: leglüg (vo)
• Welsh: eglwys gadeiriol f, cadeirlan (cy) f
• West Flemish: kateedroale f
• Yiddish: קאַטעדראַל‎ f (katedral)

Etymology 3

Coined by the American political blogger Curtis Guy Yarvin.

Proper noun

the Cathedral

1. (US politics, slang) In certain right-wing conspiracy theories, the mainstream system or establishment of society, held to be liberal or leftist and to be working against the interests of the people or nation, which is both.
   • 2022 January 14, Rod Dreher, “Neckbeard Militias Are Not My Enemy”, in The American Conservative‎^[1], archived from the original on 2022-04-15:

     This is why grown-up men and women in the Cathedral (to use the neoreactionary term for the Establishment) actually believe that the MAGA yahoos of January 6 nearly overthrew the US government.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cathederall, cathedrall, cathedralle, cathiderall, chathedral, chathydralle

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cathedral, from Latin cathedrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˌtɛːˈdraːl/, /kaˈtɛːdral/

Adjective

cathedral

1. cathedral (relating to the see of a bishop)

Descendants

• English: cathedral

References

• “cathēdrāl, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.