Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

voussoir

/vuˈswɑːr/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: vous-soir
IPA: /vuˈswɑːr/

11

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

One of a series of wedge-shaped bricks or stones forming an arch or vault.

Example Sentences

"It is the voussoir depth in a real arch which enables the arch to carry wider ranges of loading; a large number of different idealized centre-line arches can be contained within a given practical profile. ...[T]his must be so, or no mediaeval bridge would have survived its decentering."
"Other areas have mortar joints missing, including between the voussoir blocks forming the edge of the arches on either side of the pier."

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French voussoir, from Old French vosoir, from Vulgar Latin *volsorium, from *volsus, from Latin volvō (“to roll”).

Origin

Source language: Old French

Word Breakdown

Root: vosoir, *volsorium, volvō

Inflected Forms

voussoirs (plural)

Derived Forms

voussoired voussoiring

Questions

How do you pronounce voussoir?: The recorded pronunciation is /vuˈswɑːr/.
What does voussoir mean?: One of a series of wedge-shaped bricks or stones forming an arch or vault.
Where does voussoir come from?: It is traced to Old French.

How to pronounce voussoir

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “voussoir”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/vuˈswɑːr/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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