Meanings
plural barbells
- hobbiesA wide steel bar with premeasured weights counterpoised at either end, with the central span open for the hands of the weightlifter.
The in-house gym included “squat racks” for weight lifting, with iron barbells branded with “Thinking Machines” in bold white typeface.
2026 January 22, Cade Metz, Kalley Huang, Mike Isaac, “The A.I. Start-Up Soap Opera Riveting Silicon Valley”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2026Synonyms: weight bar
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA wide steel bar with premeasured weights counterpoised at either end, with the central span open for the hands of the weightlifter.
Origin
Blend of bar + dumbbell. The piercing is named after the exercise equipment, because of the visual resemblance.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic بَرْبِل
- بَرْبِل (barbil)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
Bulgarian ща́нга
- ща́нга (štánga)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
Catalan barra
- barrawide steel bar with premeasured weights
Chinese Mandarin 槓鈴 /杠铃
- 槓鈴 /杠铃 (gànglíng)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
Czech činka
- činkawide steel bar with premeasured weights
Esperanto halterego
- halteregowide steel bar with premeasured weights
Estonian kang, tõstekang
- kangwide steel bar with premeasured weights
- tõstekangwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Finnish levytanko
- levytankowide steel bar with premeasured weights
French haltère, barre à disques
- haltèrewide steel bar with premeasured weights
- barre à disqueswide steel bar with premeasured weights
German Langhantel, Hantel
- Langhantelwide steel bar with premeasured weights
- Hantelwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Hungarian súlyzórúd
- súlyzórúdwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Icelandic lóðastöng
- lóðastöngwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Indonesian barbel
- barbelwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Italian bilanciere
- bilancierewide steel bar with premeasured weights
Japanese バーベル
- バーベル (bāberu)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
Korean 역기, 바벨
- 역기 (yeokgi)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
- 바벨 (babel)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
Latvian svaru stienis
- svaru stieniswide steel bar with premeasured weights
Lithuanian štanga
- štangawide steel bar with premeasured weights
Norwegian Bokmål vektstang
- vektstangwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Persian هالتر, وزنه
- هالتر (hâlter)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
- وزنه (vazne)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
Polish sztanga
- sztangawide steel bar with premeasured weights
Portuguese barra
- barrawide steel bar with premeasured weights
Romanian halteră
- halterăwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Russian шта́нга
- шта́нга (štánga)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
Slovak činka
- činkawide steel bar with premeasured weights
Spanish barra con pesas, barra
- barra con pesaswide steel bar with premeasured weights
- barrawide steel bar with premeasured weights
- halterawide steel bar with premeasured weights
Swedish skivstång
- skivstångwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Tagalog barbel, pesas
- barbelwide steel bar with premeasured weights
- pesaswide steel bar with premeasured weights
Turkish halter
- halterwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Ukrainian шта́нга
- шта́нга (štánha)wide steel bar with premeasured weights
Welsh barbwysau, barbel
- barbwysauwide steel bar with premeasured weights
- barbelwide steel bar with premeasured weights
Cite this entry
barbell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barbell
“barbell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barbell. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “barbell,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barbell.
Source: barbell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.