nave

See also: Nave, näve, nāve, and nāvē

English

The nave of a church in Ellmau, Austria

Pronunciation

• enPR: nāv, IPA^(key): /neɪv/
• Rhymes: -eɪv
• Homophone: knave

Etymology 1

Ultimately from Latin nāvis, via a Romance source.

Noun

nave (plural naves)

1. (architecture) The middle or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

Derived terms

• double-nave

Translations

the middle or body of a church

• Arabic: صَحْن‎‎ (ar) m (ṣaḥn)
• Armenian: նավ (hy) (nav)
• Basque: habearte
• Belarusian: неф m (njef)
• Breton: nev f
• Bulgarian: неф m (nef)
• Catalan: nau (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 中殿 (zhōngdiàn)

• Czech: loď (cs) f
• Danish: skib (da) n
• Dutch: schip (nl) n
• Esperanto: navo (eo)
• Estonian: lööv
• Finnish: laiva (fi), päälaiva
• French: nef (fr) f
• Galician: nave f
• Georgian: ნეფი (nepi)
• German: Schiff (de) n
• Greek: ναυς (el) f (nafs)
• Hebrew: ספינה‎‎ (he) f (sfiná)
• Hungarian: hajó (hu), templomhajó (hu)
• Ido: navo (io)
• Irish: corp na heaglaise m
• Italian: navata (it)

• Japanese: 身廊 (shinro-u)
• Korean: 신랑 (ko) (sillang)
• Latvian: ratu rumba f
• Lithuanian: nava (lt) f
• Macedonian: кораб m (kórab), брод m (bród)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: midtskip n

  Nynorsk: midskip n, midtskip n

• Polish: nawa główna f, nawa (pl) f
• Portuguese: nave (pt) f
• Romanian: naos (ro) n, navă (ro) f
• Russian: неф (ru) m (nef)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: брод m, лађа f

  Roman: brod (sh) m, lađa (sh) f

• Slovak: loď (sk) f
• Slovene: ladja (sl) f
• Sogdian: [script needed] (hyklʾ /heykala/)
• Spanish: nave (es) f
• Swedish: skepp (sv) n
• Tagalog: nabe
• Turkish: kilise ortası
• Ukrainian: неф m (nef), на́ва (uk) f (náva)
• Welsh: corff (cy) m

Etymology 2

From Middle English nave, from Old English nafu, from Proto-Germanic *nabō (compare Dutch naaf, German Nabe, Swedish nav), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nebʰ- (“navel”) (compare Latin umbō (“shield boss”), Latvian naba, Sanskrit नाभ (nābha)).

Noun

nave (plural naves)

1. A hub of a wheel.
   • --William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2

     'Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,

     In general synod take away her power;

     Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,

     And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven...

2. (obsolete) The navel.
   • William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act I, scene 1:

     Till he faced the slave;/Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,/Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,/And fix'd his head upon our battlements

Related terms

• navel

Translations

hub of a wheel

• Danish: nav (da) n
• Dutch: naaf (nl) f
• Esperanto: nabo (eo)
• Finnish: napa (fi)
• French: moyeu (fr) m
• German: Nabe (de) f
• Greek: αφαλός (el) m (afalós)
• Ido: nabo (io)

• Japanese: 轂 (ja) (こしき, koshiki)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nav n

  Nynorsk: nav n

• Polish: piasta (pl) f
• Scottish Gaelic: cìoch f
• Swedish: nav (sv) n

Anagrams

• Evan, Neva, Vena, aven, neva, vane

---

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin nāvis, nāvem.

Noun

nave f (plural naves)

1. ship

---

Aulua

Noun

nave

1. water
   • Martin Pavior-Smith, Exploring self-concept and narrator characterisation in Aulua (nave):

     Nave ibtavov ben.

     The water went [=was swept] out [of the house].

Further reading

• Darrell T. Tryon, New Hebrides languages: an internal classification (1976) (na-βʷe); ABVD 1 (na-fe), 2 (na-ve), 3 (na-ve)

---

Galician

Etymology

From Old Portuguese, from Latin nāvis, nāvem.

Noun

nave f (plural naves)

1. ship (watercraft or airship)
2. (architecture) nave

Related terms

• navegar

---

Italian

Etymology

From Latin nāvis, nāvem, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

nave f (plural navi)

1. ship

Related terms

• nausea
• nautica
• navale
• nave costiera
• nave scuola
• navicella
• navigare
• naviglio

Anagrams

• vane
• vena

---

Latin

Noun

nāve

1. ablative singular of navis

References

• nave in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• nave in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nave in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

---

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈnave/

Verb

nave

1. inflection of navvit:
   1. present indicative connegative
   2. second-person singular imperative
   3. imperative connegative

---

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese, from Latin nāvis, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -avi

Noun

nave f (plural naves)

1. ship
2. (architecture) nave, aisle

Related terms

• naval
• navegar
• navio

See also

• barco m
• navio m

---

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin nāvis, nāvem, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnabe/, [ˈnaβe]

Noun

nave f (plural naves)

1. ship
2. (architecture) nave, aisle

Synonyms

ship

• bajel m

• barco m

• buque m

• navío m

Derived terms

Derived terms

• aeronave f

Related terms

Terms related to nave

• naval

• navegar

• navío

Further reading

• “nave” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.