lintel

See also: Lintel

English

Lintel labeled with 2 (sill is number 1)

Etymology

From Middle English lyntel, from Old French lintel, from Vulgar Latin *līntellus, for *līmitellus, diminutive noun from līmes. Equivalent to limit +‎ -el.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪn.təl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪntəl

Noun

lintel (plural lintels)

2. (architecture) A horizontal structural beam spanning an opening, such as between the uprights of a door or a window, and which supports the wall above.
   • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LXXXVII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

     Athelny had told him that he lived in a house built by Inigo Jones; he had raved, as he raved over everything, over the balustrade of old oak; and when he came down to open the door for Philip he made him at once admire the elegant carving of the lintel.

   • 1927 August, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “[Ariel Poems.] Journey of the Magi.”, in Collected Poems 1909–1935, London: Faber & Faber […], published September 1954, →OCLC, page 107:

     Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,

Synonyms

• overslay
• superliminary
• header

Antonyms

• threshold

Coordinate terms

• jamb
• sill

Derived terms

• lintelled

Translations

horizontal structural beam

• Asturian: sobrepuerta f, cargaderu m, llintel m
• Breton: gourin m
• Bulgarian: трегер m (treger)
• Catalan: llinda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 過梁 (guòliáng), 橫楣子 / 横楣子 (zh) (héngméizi), 闌頭 / 阑头 (zh) (lántóu), 門斗 / 门斗 (zh) (méndǒu), 門楣 / 门楣 (zh) (ménméi)

• Czech: překlad (cs) m
• Dutch: latei (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: lintelo
• Estonian: sillus
• Finnish: kamana (fi)
• French: linteau (fr) m
• Galician: lumieira (gl) f, lintel (gl) f
• German: Sturz (de) m, Oberschwelle m
• Greek: υπέρθυρο (el) n (ypérthyro), ανώφλι (el) n (anófli), πρέκι (el) n (préki)

  Ancient Greek: ὑπερθύριον n (huperthúrion), φλιᾶς n (phliâs)

• Hungarian: szemöldökfa (hu)
• Icelandic: (over a door) dyratré n, ofdyri n
• Irish: fardoras m
• Italian: piattabanda (it) f
• Japanese: 鴨居 (ja) (kamoi)
• Kazakh: маңдайша (mañdaişa)
• Macedonian: надвратник m (nadvratnik), натпрозорник m (natprozornik)
• Māori: taupoki, kōrupe, kārupe
• Norwegian: dekkstein m, dekning f, overdekning f, overligger over m, vindusbjelke m
• Polish: nadproże (pl) n
• Portuguese: lintel m
• Romanian: buiandrug (ro) m, lintou (ro) n
• Russian: при́толока (ru) f (prítoloka)
• Scottish Gaelic: àrd-doras m
• Serbo-Croatian: greda (sh), nadvratnik (sh)
• Spanish: lintel (es) m, dintel (es) m, lindel m (uncommon)
• Swedish: dörrbalk c, fönsterbalk c, överstycke n, dörrträ (sv) n
• Turkish: lento (tr)
• Welsh: capan m, lintel m, (over a door) gwarddrws m

Further reading

• Lintel (architecture) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “lintel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• lentil, tellin, tellin'

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French lintel, from Vulgar Latin limitalis, from Latin liminaris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /linˈtɛl/ [lin̪ˈt̪ɛɫ]
• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Hyphenation: lin‧tel

Noun

lintel m (plural linteis)

1. lintel

   Synonym: lumieira

Related terms

• limiar

References

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “lintel”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “lintel”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “lintel”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Old French

Noun

lintel oblique singular, m (oblique plural linteaus or linteax or lintiaus or lintiax or lintels, nominative singular linteaus or linteax or lintiaus or lintiax or lintels, nominative plural lintel)

1. lintel (beam)

Descendants

• French: linteau
• → Middle English: lintel
  • English: lintel
• → Portuguese: lintel, dintel
• → Spanish: lintel, dintel

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /lĩˈtɛw/ [lĩˈtɛʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /lĩˈtɛl/ [lĩˈtɛɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /lĩˈtɛl/ [lĩˈtɛɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /lĩˈtɛ.li/

• Hyphenation: lin‧tel

Noun

lintel m (plural lintéis)

1. lintel

Coordinate terms

• parapeito

Further reading

• “lintel”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “lintel”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /linˈtel/ [lĩn̪ˈt̪el]
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: lin‧tel

Noun

lintel m (plural linteles)

1. (architecture) lintel

Further reading

• “lintel”, 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