corbel

English

Neoclassical corbel of a city-house from Bucharest (Romania)

Neoclassical corbel in Paris

Gothic corbel in Trier (Germany)

Etymology

From Middle English corbel, from Old French corbel, from Late Latin corbellus, corvellus, diminutive of Latin corvus (“raven”), named for the shape's resemblance to a crow's beak. Doublet of corbeau.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːbəl/

Noun

corbel (plural corbels)

1. (architecture) A structural member jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight.

   Synonym: corb

   Coordinate terms: console, modillion

   • 1946 September and October, D. J. Rowett, “Stamford L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 283:

     The booking hall is lofty and of peculiar design, the roof being carried on timbered beams set in pairs rising from carved corbels.

Derived terms

• corbeling
• corbel table
• encorbelment

Related terms

• corbel arch
• corbelling
• corbie step

Translations

architecture: a structural member of stone, wood or metal jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight

• Bulgarian: конзола (bg) f (konzola)
• Catalan: permòdol (ca) m, mènsula f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 托臂 (tuōbì), 樑托 / 梁托 (liángtuō)

• Czech: konzola (cs) f
• Finnish: olkakivi (fi)
• French: corbeau (fr) m
• Galician: canzorro m
• German: Kragstein (de) m, Konsole (de) f, Widerlager n, Mauervorsprung (de) m, Kragstück n, Auskragung (de) f, Vorkragung f, Sattelholz (de) n
• Hungarian: gyámkő (hu), gyámfa (hu), gyámkar, gyám (hu), tartókő, falkiugrás (hu), konzol (hu), kőkonzol, pillérkonzol
• Polish: kroksztyn (pl) m
• Spanish: ménsula (es) f
• Ukrainian: консо́ль f (konsólʹ), кронште́йн m (kronštéjn)

See also

• ledger

Verb

corbel (third-person singular simple present corbels, present participle (US) corbeling or (UK) corbelling, simple past and past participle (US) corbeled or (UK) corbelled)

1. (transitive) To furnish with a corbel or corbels; to support by a corbel; to make in the form of a corbel.

Derived terms

• corbel out

Further reading

• corbel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Cobler, cobler

Old French

Etymology

Either a diminutive of corp (“raven”), corf, or from a Late Latin corbellus, corvellus, from Latin corvus (Vulgar Latin variant *corbus).

Noun

corbel oblique singular, m (oblique plural corbeaus or corbeax or corbiaus or corbiax or corbels, nominative singular corbeaus or corbeax or corbiaus or corbiax or corbels, nominative plural corbel)

1. crow (bird)

Descendants

• Middle French: corbeau m
  • French: corbeau m
    • → English: corbeau
  • → English: corbie
  • → Scots: corbie
• → Middle English: corbel
  • English: corbel