How do you pronounce altar?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɔl.tɚ/.

Where does altar come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

altar

/ˈɔl.tɚ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.80 in modern English

Syllables: al-tar
IPA: /ˈɔl.tɚ/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.

Informal

noun

Any (real or notional) place where something is worshipped or sacrificed to.

Example Sentences

"To hawke, or els to hunt From the auter to the funt, Wyth cry unreverent, Before the sacrament, Wythin the holy church bowndis, That of our fayth the grownd is."
"Wax models of the pudenda of both sexes were regularly placed before the altar."
"[…]now marking the end of ascetic rationalism, the monadology no longer implied a sacrifice of individuality on the altar of rationality."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English auter, inherited from Old English altar and borrowed from Old French auter, both derived from Latin altāre, probably related to adolere (“burn”); thus "burning place", influenced by altus (“high”). Displaced native Middle English wēved.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: auter, altar, altāre

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈɔl.tɚ/
British English: /ˈɒl.tə/

Usage

Informal

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Places.

Inflected Forms

altars (plural)

Derived Forms

altarage altared altarist altarless altarlet altarlike altarpiece altarward altarware altarwise superaltar

Phrases

altar bell altar boy altar bread altar call altar card altar carpet altar cloth altar-cloth

Synonyms

communion table lord's table

Homonyms

alter

Rhymes With

walter alter gibraltar falter halter salter psalter defaulter balter malter saulter stalter