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transept

UK/ˈtɹænsɛpt/US/ˈtɹænsɛpt/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #15,224 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: transepts

A transept is the arm that crosses the nave of a church. The north transept, cross the transept, a transept window.

The two together make the building a cross when seen from above, which is the whole point of the plan. The crossing is where they meet, and the tower usually sits above it.

de:Benutzer:Algos · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of transept

  1. 1nountranseptThe arm that crosses the nave of a church.C2

    “The choir sang from the north transept of the cathedral.”

transept is a part.

Where it comes from

New Latin transeptum is trans, across, plus saeptum, an enclosure.

  1. Latin

    trans- — across

  2. New Latin

    transeptum

  3. French

    transept

  4. English, today

    transept

Built from

  • saeptum · Latin — fence, partition, enclosure

From French transept, from New Latin transeptum, from Latin trans- (“across”) + saeptum (“fence, partition, enclosure”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

transept in the wild

  • A Latin cross plan primarily contains a nave, transept, apse, and narthex.

    Latin cross

  • The nave and transept would have lengths that were a certain multiple of the length of the crossing square.

    Crossing (architecture)

  • There are rare examples of transept aisleless churches, in which the altar area occupies the short side east of the transept.

    Aisleless church

  • The first (fig. 26) stands in the upper sacristy of the Cathedral of Bayeux, over the south transept.

    The Care of Books· John Willis Clark

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.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

the saeptum family

septtransept

transept — used about once every 159,543 pages · #15,224 · point at the bar for the others