nacelle

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French nacelle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nəˈsɛl/

Noun

nacelle (plural nacelles)

1. A separate streamlined enclosure mounted on an aircraft to house an engine, cargo, or crew.
2. The part between the tower and rotor of a wind turbine.
3. The compartment that holds passengers on a hot-air balloon, a dirigible, or an aerostat; a gondola.
4. The submersed providers of buoyancy of a SWATH hulled boat.
5. (obsolete) A small boat.

Translations

a separate streamlined enclosure mounted on an aircraft to house an engine, cargo, or crew

• Finnish: naselli (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: гондола (ru) f (gondola)

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French

Etymology

From Old French nacele (“small boat”), from Late Latin navicella, diminutive of Latin navis (“boat”). Doublet of navicelle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.sɛl/

Noun

nacelle f (plural nacelles)

1. (literary) skiff
2. gondola (of hot-air balloon etc.)
3. pod (of spacecraft)
4. cradle

Related terms

• naval
• navire
• nef

Further reading

• “nacelle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.