Narthex
//ˈnɑɹθɛks// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A western vestibule leading to the nave in some Christian churches.
"we were in the antechamber, called the narthex, which runs across the front of any Byzantine church [...]."
- 2 a vestibule leading to the nave of a church wordnet
- 3 portico at the west end of an early Christian basilica or church wordnet
Example
More examples"we were in the antechamber, called the narthex, which runs across the front of any Byzantine church [...]."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek νάρθηξ (nárthēx, “giant fennel”), later ‘casket’ (modern Greek νάρθηκας (nárthikas)), a Pre-Greek word, as suggested by the suffix. See also νάρδος (nárdos, “nard”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.