What does "ridgepole" mean?

A beam along the ridge of a roof to which the rafters are attached.

What is a synonym for "ridgepole"?

Common synonyms include: beam, ceiling, clerestory, eaves, housetop, lantern.

Pronounced //ˈɹɪdʒˌpoʊl//.

//ˈɹɪdʒˌpoʊl// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A beam along the ridge of a roof to which the rafters are attached.
"In the middle of the floor was a pole of tough thornwood, to hold the end of the ridgepole."
2
a beam laid along the edge where two sloping sides of a roof meet at the top; provides an attachment for the upper ends of rafters wordnet
3
A horizontal pole that supports the roof of a ridge tent .

"I dare you to climb up there and walk the ridgepole of Mr. Barry's kitchen roof."

From ridge + pole.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.