Meanings
plural balustrades
- A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.
So on a pleasant morning, as he leant / Into the sun-rise, o’er the balustrade [...]
1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, stanza XXIII, page 601 more example
The Jester sat down on one of the marble balustrades and regarded Alvin with a curious intentness.
1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 45
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna railing at the side of a staircase or balcony to prevent people from falling
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Semitic
- Ancient Greekβαλαύστιον
- Latinbalaustium
- Italianbalaustrata“with balusters”
- Frenchbalustrade
- Englishbalustrade
Unadapted borrowing from French balustrade, from Italian balaustrata (“with balusters”), from balaustro (“baluster”), from balausta (“wild pomegranate flower”), via Latin balaustium, from Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaústion), from Semitic, compare Classical Syriac ܒܠܳܨܳܐ (blāṣā, “pomegranate shoot”)). So named because of resemblance to the swelling form of the half-open pomegranate flower. Also see baluster.
More words from French, Italian, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque balaustrada
- balaustradarow of balusters
Bulgarian балюстра́да
- балюстра́да (baljustráda)row of balusters
Catalan balustrada
- balustradarow of balusters
Chinese Cantonese 欄杆
- 欄杆 (laan⁴ gon¹)row of balusters
Chinese Mandarin 欄杆
- 欄杆 (lángān)row of balusters
Czech balustráda
- balustrádarow of balusters
Danish balustrade
- balustraderow of balusters
Dutch balustrade
- balustraderow of balusters
Esperanto balustrado
- balustradorow of balusters
Estonian balustraad
- balustraadrow of balusters
Finnish balustradi
- balustradirow of balusters
French balustrade
- balustraderow of balusters
German Balustrade
- Balustraderow of balusters
Greek κιγκλίδωμα, μπαλούστρο
- κιγκλίδωμα (kigklídoma)row of balusters
- μπαλούστρο (baloústro)row of balusters
- μπαλουστράδα (baloustráda)row of balusters
Hebrew מעקה
- מעקה (maaké)row of balusters
Hindi कटघरा, कटघरे
- कटघरा (kaṭgharā)row of balusters
- कटघरे (kaṭghare)row of balusters
- जंगला (jaṅglā)row of balusters
- जंगले (jaṅgle)row of balusters
Hungarian mellvéd, balusztrád
- mellvédrow of balusters
- balusztrádrow of balusters
Icelandic brjóstrið, súlnabrjóstrið
- brjóstriðrow of balusters
- súlnabrjóstriðrow of balusters
- handriðrow of balusters
- rimlahandriðrow of balusters
- grindverkrow of balusters
- rimlagirðingrow of balusters
Indonesian balustrade
- balustraderow of balusters
Irish balastráid
- balastráidrow of balusters
Italian balaustra, balaustrata
- balaustrarow of balusters
- balaustratarow of balusters
- ringhierarow of balusters
Japanese 手摺, 手すり
- 手摺 (tesuri)row of balusters
- 手すり (tesuri)row of balusters
- 欄干 (rankan)row of balusters
Korean 난간, 란간
- 난간 (nan'gan)row of balusters
- 란간 (ran'gan)row of balusters
Latvian balustrāde
- balustrāderow of balusters
Lithuanian baliustrada
- baliustradarow of balusters
Norwegian Bokmål balustrade
- balustraderow of balusters
Persian دارابزین
- دارابزین (dârâbzin)row of balusters
Polish balustrada
- balustradarow of balusters
Portuguese balaustrada
- balaustradarow of balusters
Romanian balustradă
- balustradărow of balusters
Russian балюстра́да
- балюстра́да (baljustráda)row of balusters
Scottish Gaelic stùc-shread
- stùc-shreadrow of balusters
Slovak balustrada
- balustradarow of balusters
Spanish balaustrada
- balaustradarow of balusters
Swedish balustrad
- balustradrow of balusters
Tagalog palababahan
- palababahanrow of balusters
Turkish korkuluk
- korkulukrow of balusters
Ukrainian балюстра́да
- балюстра́да (baljustráda)row of balusters
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with balustrade
Cite this entry
balustrade. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balustrade
“balustrade.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balustrade. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “balustrade,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balustrade.
Source: balustrade on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.