podium

See also: Podium, pódium, and -podium

English

podium (3)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin podium, from Ancient Greek πόδιον (pódion, “base”), a diminutive of πούς (poús, “foot”). Doublet of pew.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʊ.di.əm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ.di.əm/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʉ.di.əm/
• Rhymes: -əʊdiəm

Noun

podium (plural podia or podiums)

1. A platform on which to stand, as when conducting an orchestra or preaching at a pulpit; any low platform or dais.
2. (sometimes proscribed) A stand used to hold notes when speaking publicly.
3. (sports and other competitions) A steepled platform upon which the three competitors with the best results may stand when being handed their medals or prize.
4. (sports) A result amongst the best three at a competition.
   • 2020 September 13, Andrew Benson, “Tuscan Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton claims 90th win after incredible race”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Red Bull's Thai-British driver Alex Albon took a maiden podium in third.

5. A low wall, serving as a foundation, a substructure, or a terrace wall.
   1. The dwarf wall surrounding the arena of an amphitheatre, from the top of which the seats began.
   2. The masonry under the stylobate of a temple, sometimes a mere foundation, sometimes containing chambers.
6. The lower portion of a high-rise building, typically of several storeys tall and acts as a foundation to the tower(s) above it.
7. (botany, anatomy) A foot or footstalk.

Usage notes

• Some people object to the “stand for holding notes” sense on the grounds that because of its etymology, podium ought to refer to something that is stood upon (or that at least pertains to the feet in some way), and that lectern should be used instead, as it refers to “reading”. However, this use is well established in US English and reported without comment in US dictionaries.

Synonyms

• (stand used to hold notes when speaking publicly): lectern

Derived terms

• acropodium
• hypopodium
• monopodium
• podium position
• podium sweep

Translations

platform

• Arabic: مِنَصَّة f (minaṣṣa)
• Catalan: pòdium (ca) m, podi (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 講壇 / 讲坛 (zh) (jiǎngtán), 講臺 / 讲台 (zh) (jiǎngtái), 講台 (zh) (jiǎngtái)

• Czech: pódium (cs) n
• Dutch: podium (nl), spreekgestoelte (nl) n
• Esperanto: podio
• Finnish: koroke (fi)
• French: podium (fr) m
• Georgian: პოდიუმი (ṗodiumi)
• German: Podium (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: βῆμα n (bêma)

• Hungarian: pódium (hu)
• Ido: estrado (io)
• Irish: póidiam m
• Javanese: podhium
• Māori: pourangi (mi)
• Polish: podium (pl) n, podest (pl) m
• Portuguese: pódio (pt) m
• Romanian: podium (ro) n
• Russian: по́диум (ru) m (pódium), платфо́рма (ru) f (platfórma), возвыше́ние (ru) n (vozvyšénije)
• Spanish: podio (es) m, pódium m, podium m
• Swedish: podium (sv) n

stand used to hold notes when speaking publicly

• Arabic: مِنَصَّة f (minaṣṣa)
• Finnish: puhujakoroke (fi), puhujapönttö (fi)
• German: Pult (de) n, Rednerpult (de) n
• Greek: βάθρο (el) n (váthro), βήμα (el) n (víma), εξέδρα (el) f (exédra)

  Ancient Greek: βῆμα n (bêma)

• Polish: mównica (pl) f
• Russian: ка́федра (ru) f (káfedra)
• Spanish: pódium m, podio (es) m, podium m
• Swedish: talarstol (sv) c

sports: steepled platform

• Arabic: مِنَصَّة f (minaṣṣa)
• Finnish: palkintokoroke (fi), palkintopalli
• German: Treppchen (de) n, Podest (de) n, Podium (de) n
• Greek: βάθρο (el) n (váthro)
• Hungarian: dobogó (hu)
• Japanese: 表彰台 (ja) (ひょうしょうだい, hyōshōdai)
• Korean: 지휘대 (ko) (jihwidae)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pall m

  Nynorsk: pall m

• Polish: podium (pl) n
• Portuguese: pódio (pt) m
• Russian: по́диум (ru) m (pódium)
• Spanish: pódium m, podio (es) m, podium m
• Swedish: prispall (sv) c, pall (sv) c
• Turkish: ödül kürsüsü

sports: result amongst the best three

• Finnish: palkintosija, palkintopalli
• German: Treppchen (de) n, Podest (de) n, Podium (de) n
• Hungarian: dobogós helyezés (hu)
• Polish: podium (pl) n
• Portuguese: pódio (pt) m
• Swedish: pallplacering c

low wall, serving as a foundation, substructure, or a terrace wall

Verb

podium (third-person singular simple present podiums, present participle podiuming, simple past and past participle podiumed)

1. (intransitive, sports, colloquial) To finish in the top three at an event or competition.

   The swimmer podiumed three times at the Olympics.

   • 2011 September 1, Harry Pearson, “London 2012 can legacy by verbing the noun”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 22 September 2024:

     Vocab-wise, medalling and PB-ing are now totally part-and-parcelled, and most experts in South Korea believe podiumed, finalled and all-comered are not far off lexiconing.

See also

• final
• medal

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin podium, from Ancient Greek πόδιον (pódion, “base”), a diminutive of πούς (poús, “foot”). Doublet of pui.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpoː.di.(j)ʏm/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

podium n (plural podia or podiums, diminutive podiumpje n)

1. (art) stage
2. (particularly sports) podium

Derived terms

• erepodium
• hoofdpodium
• podiumbeest
• podiumkunst
• poppodium

Descendants

• → Indonesian: podium

Further reading

• “podium” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin podium. Doublet of puy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ.djɔm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

podium m (plural podiums or podia)

1. podium

Descendants

• → Turkish: podyum

Further reading

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

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch podium, from Latin podium, from Ancient Greek πόδιον (pódion, “base”), a diminutive of πούς (poús, “foot”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /poˈdium/ [poˈdi.ʊm]
• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: po‧di‧um

Noun

podium (plural podium-podium)

1. podium
   1. platform
   2. stand used to hold notes when speaking publicly

      Synonym: mimbar

   3. low wall, serving as a foundation, substructure, or a terrace wall

      Synonym: batur

Derived terms

• podium juara
• singa podium

Further reading

• “podium”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πόδιον (pódion, “base”), from diminutive of πούς (poús, “foot”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpɔ.di.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈpɔː.di.um]

Noun

podium n (genitive podiī or podī); second declension

1. balcony, especially in an amphitheatre

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	podium	podia
genitive	podiī podī1	podiōrum
dative	podiō	podiīs
accusative	podium	podia
ablative	podiō	podiīs
vocative	podium	podia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• *appodiō
• *podiō

Descendants

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Italian: poggio
  • Sicilian: poju
  • Venetan: podo, poxo
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Emilian: peusc
  • Gallo-Italic of Sicily: poju, puoju
  • Ligurian: péuzzo
  • Romagnol: pògg, ⇒ puzol
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Northern:
    • Old French: pui
      • Middle French: puy
        • French: puy (regional)
      • ⇒ Middle French: puie, puye, poye
        • → Middle English: pewe, pew, puwe
          • English: pew
          • Scots: pew
  • Southern:
    • Catalan: puig, pui, ⇒ pujol, Pujol (surname)
    • Occitan:
      • Gascon: puei
      • Languedocien: puèg, puòg
      • Limousin: pueg
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: pueyo, pui
  • Asturian: poyu, puyu, pueyu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: poio
    • Galician: poio
    • Portuguese: poio
  • Old Spanish: poyo
    • Spanish: poyo
• Borrowings
  • → Aragonese: podio
  • → Asturian: podiu
  • → Catalan: podi
  • → Czech: pódium
  • → English: podium
  • → French: podium
    • → Turkish: podyum
  • → Galician: podio
  • → German: Podium
  • → Hungarian: pódium
  • → Italian: podio
  • → Occitan: podiòm
  • → Polish: podium
  • → Portuguese: pódio
  • → Romanian: podiu, podium
  • → Spanish: podio, pódium

References

• “podium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “podium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "podium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “podium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “podium”, in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[3]
• “podium”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “podium”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpʰuːdɪʉm]

Noun

podium n (definite singular podiet, indefinite plural podier, definite plural podia or podiene)

1. podium
2. a dais, raised platform

References

• “podium” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

podium n (definite singular podiet, indefinite plural podium, definite plural podia)

1. podium
2. a dais, raised platform

References

• “podium” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin podium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.djum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔdjum
• Syllabification: po‧dium

Noun

podium n

1. (architecture) podium

Declension

Declension of podium

	singular	plural
nominative	podium	podia
genitive	podium	podiów
dative	podium	podiom
accusative	podium	podia
instrumental	podium	podiami
locative	podium	podiach
vocative	podium	podia

Further reading

• “podium”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[4] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “podium”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[5] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin podium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpo.djum/

Noun

podium n (plural podiumuri)

1. podium

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	podium	podiumul	podiumuri	podiumurile
genitive-dative	podium	podiumului	podiumuri	podiumurilor
vocative	podiumule		podiumurilor

Further reading

• “podium”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin podium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpodjum/ [ˈpo.ð̞jũm]
• Rhymes: -odjum
• Syllabification: po‧dium

Noun

podium m (plural podiums)

1. alternative form of podio

Usage notes

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “podium”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin podium.

Noun

podium n

1. podium

Declension

Declension of podium

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	podium	podiums
	definite	podiet	podiets
plural	indefinite	podier	podiers
	definite	podierna	podiernas

References

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