crenel

UK/ˈkɹɛnəl/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: crenels

A crenel is one of the gaps in a battlement. Shoot through a crenel.

The solid part between two of them is a merlon, and the pair make a battlement. A crenel was often fitted with a wooden shutter that could be swung aside.

Definitions of crenel

1nouncrenelOne of the gaps in a battlement.C2
“An archer could cover the whole gate from one crenel.”

crenel is a gap.

Where it comes from

Old French crenel is a diminutive of cren, a notch.

Old French
crenel
English, today
crenel

Built from

cren · Old French — notch

From Old French crenel (> modern French créneau), diminutive of cren (“notch”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

crenel in the wild

The space between two merlons is called a crenel, and a succession of merlons and crenels is a crenellation.
Merlon
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons).
Embrasure
The act of cutting crenels into a previously unbroken parapet is known as crenellation.
Battlement
The solid sections between crenels are called merlons.
Battlement
The open ones were accessed from the battlement's wall walk, or from a crenel.
Bretèche

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the cren family

cranny

crenel — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others

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