plinth

UK/plɪnθ/US/plɪnθ/

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechmostly written

Other forms: plinths

A plinth is the block a column or a statue stands on. It lifts the thing above eye level and says it matters.

Architecture uses it precisely for the lowest square part of a column base, and galleries use it for the box a sculpture sits on, where the choice of height and colour is a real curatorial decision. Trafalgar Square has a famous empty one, used for a rotating series of commissioned works. Pedestal is the near synonym, and putting somebody on a pedestal is the figurative version.

Definitions of plinth

1nounplinthA base supporting a column, statue or other object.C1
“The bust stood on a black marble plinth.”

Where it comes from

Ancient Greek
πλίνθος — brick
Latin
plinthus
French
plinthe
English, today
plinth

From French plinthe, from Latin plinthus, from Ancient Greek πλίνθος (“brick”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, A Song of Ice and Fire

First appears in chapter 15 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

plinth in the wild

The word is borrowed from Italian meaning "dice" or "cube", and refers to die, an architectural term for the middle section of a pedestal or plinth.
Dado (architecture)
A pedestal, or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars.
Pedestal
The minimum height of the plinth is usually kept as 45 cm (for buildings).
Pedestal
In architecture, a socle is a short plinth used to support a pedestal, sculpture, or column.
Socle (architecture)
In English, the term tends to be most used for the bases for rather small sculptures, with plinth or pedestal preferred for larger examples.
Socle (architecture)

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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.

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