parapet

English

Modern parapet around a New York City rooftop (2)

A parapet made of sandbags on a trench (3)

Etymology

From Middle French parapet, from Italian parapetto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹəpɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹəˌpɛt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

parapet (plural parapets)

1. A low protective wall.

   Hyponym: balustrade

   Coordinate term: railing

   • 2020 August 26, “Mid-September before line reopens, says Network Rail”, in Rail, page 11:

     Engineers will be closely checking the bridge for damage beyond the obvious smashed parapets.

2. Part of a perimeter that extends above the roof.
   • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 26, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:

     Maccario, it was evident, did not care to take the risk of blundering upon a picket, and a man led them by twisting paths until at last the hacienda rose blackly before them. Appleby could see it dimly, a blur of shadowy buildings with the ridge of roof parapet alone cutting hard and sharp against the clearing sky.

3. (military) A fortification consisting of a wall.

   Synonym: breastwork

   • 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter I, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

     Obviously if you have only a few days in which to train a soldier, you must teach him the things he will most need; how to take cover, how to advance across open ground, how to mount guards and build a parapet – above all, how to use his weapons.

Derived terms

• keep one's head below the parapet
• parapeted
• parapetless
• parapetlike
• parapetted
• put one's head above the parapet

Translations

a low protective wall — see also guardrail

• Bulgarian: парапет (bg) m (parapet)
• Catalan: ampit (ca) m, muralleta f
• Czech: nízká zídka, zábradlí (cs) n, ohrazení n
• Dutch: borstwering (nl) f
• Esperanto: parapeto (eo)
• Finnish: parapetti (fi)
• French: parapet (fr) m
• Georgian: პარაპეტი (ṗaraṗeṭi)
• German: Brüstung (de) f
• Greek: παραπέτο (el) n (parapéto) (to prevent falls from a height), στηθαίο (el) n (stithaío)

  Ancient Greek: εἶλαρ n (eîlar)

• Hebrew: מעקה (he) (maaké)
• Irish: uchtbhalla m
• Italian: parapetto (it) m, ringhiera (it) f, spalletta f, balaustra (it) f
• Macedonian: парапе́т m (parapét)
• Māori: parepare
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brystning m or f, brystvern n

  Nynorsk: brystning f, brystvern n

• Polish: murek (pl) m, gzyms (pl) m
• Portuguese: parapeito (pt) m
• Romanian: parapet (ro) n
• Russian: парапе́т (ru) m (parapét), пери́ла (ru) n pl (períla)
• Spanish: parapeto (es) m, murete (es) m, pretil (es) m, antepecho (es) m, repecho (es) m, brocal (es) m (of a well)
• Swedish: parapet (sv) c
• Ukrainian: парапе́т m (parapét)
• Welsh: mur canllaw

a fortification consisting of a wall

• Bulgarian: бруствер m (brustver)
• Catalan: parapet (ca) m
• Czech: ohrazení n
• Finnish: rintavarustus (fi), parapetti (fi)
• French: parapet (fr) m
• German: Wehrmauer f
• Indonesian: pembirih
• Irish: uchtbharr m
• Italian: parapetto (it) m
• Māori: parepare, pātatara
• Polish: parapet (pl) m, przedpiersie n
• Portuguese: parapeito (pt) m
• Romanian: parapet (ro) n
• Russian: бру́ствер (ru) m (brústver)
• Spanish: parapeto (es) m
• Swedish: parapet (sv) c
• Welsh: rhagfur m, parapet m

Further reading

• parapet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “parapet”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish parapeto, from Italian parapetto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [pə.ɾəˈpe̞t]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) unknown
• IPA^(key): (Central) [pə.ɾəˈpɛt]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [pa.ɾaˈpet]

Noun

parapet m (plural parapets)

1. parapet

Synonyms

• (wall): ampit

Derived terms

• parapetar

Further reading

• “parapet”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈparapɛt]

Noun

parapet m inan

1. windowsill, parapet

Declension

Declension of parapet (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	parapet	parapety
genitive	parapetu	parapetů
dative	parapetu	parapetům
accusative	parapet	parapety
vocative	parapete	parapety
locative	parapetu	parapetech
instrumental	parapetem	parapety

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian parapetto, from parare (“to shield”) + petto (“chest”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.ʁa.pɛ/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

parapet m (plural parapets)

1. parapet

Descendants

• → English: parapet
• → Polish: parapet
• → Romanian: parapet
• → Russian: парапет (parapet)
• → Spanish: parapet

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• appâter, apprêta

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from French parapet, from Italian parapetto.

Noun

parapet m (plural parapets)

1. (Jersey) parapet

Polish

parapet

Etymology

Etymology tree

Italian parapetto

French parapetbor.

Polish parapet

Borrowed from French parapet, from Italian parapetto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paˈra.pɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -apɛt
• Syllabification: pa‧ra‧pet

Noun

parapet m inan (diminutive parapecik)

1. (architecture) sill, windowsill

   Synonym: podokiennik

Declension

Declension of parapet

	singular	plural
nominative	parapet	parapety
genitive	parapetu	parapetów
dative	parapetowi	parapetom
accusative	parapet	parapety
instrumental	parapetem	parapetami
locative	parapecie	parapetach
vocative	parapecie	parapety

Derived terms

adjective

• parapetowy

nouns

• parapetówa
• parapetówka

Further reading

• “parapet”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “parapet”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian parapetto, French parapet, or German Parapett.

Noun

parapet n (plural parapete)

1. parapet

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	parapet	parapetul	parapete	parapetele
genitive-dative	parapet	parapetului	parapete	parapetelor
vocative	parapetule		parapetelor

Swedish

Noun

parapet c

1. a parapet

Declension

Declension of parapet

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	parapet	parapets
	definite	parapeten	parapetens
plural	indefinite	parapeter	parapeters
	definite	parapeterna	parapeternas

See also

• bröstvärn

References

• “parapet”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “parapet”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “parapet”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)