Meanings
plural narthexes · plural narthices
- architectureA western vestibule leading to the nave in some Christian churches.
we were in the antechamber, called the narthex, which runs across the front of any Byzantine church [...].
1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 6372 more examples
One of these was Cardinal Jacopo Stefaneschi, [...] who had now conceived ambitious plans for paintings to decorate the entire narthex, or entrance porch, of Avignon's ancient cathedral.
2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 87“Cinco,” Marco bellowed now, hurrying across the narthex to give him a hearty handshake, which Cinco returned without enthusiasm.
2012, Melissa F. Miller, chapter 42, in Irretrievably Broken (The Sasha McCandless Series), e-book edition, volume 1, Brown Street Books, →ISBN, page 11642
Origin
- Pre-Greek
- Ancient Greekνάρθηξ“giant fennel; casket”
- Englishnarthex
From Ancient Greek νάρθηξ (nárthēx, “giant fennel; casket”), a Pre-Greek word, as suggested by the suffix. See also νάρδος (nárdos, “nard”).
More words from Ancient Greek, Pre-Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian преддверие
- преддверие (preddverie)vestibule leading to the nave
Catalan nàrtex
- nàrtexvestibule leading to the nave
Czech narthex
- narthexvestibule leading to the nave
Danish narthex
- narthexvestibule leading to the nave
Dutch narthex
- narthexvestibule leading to the nave
Finnish eteishalli, nartheks
- eteishallivestibule leading to the nave
- nartheksvestibule leading to the nave
French narthex
- narthexvestibule leading to the nave
German Rute, Narthex
- Rutevestibule leading to the nave
- Narthexvestibule leading to the nave
Greek νάρθηκας
- νάρθηκας (nárthikas)vestibule leading to the nave
Hungarian narthex
- narthexvestibule leading to the nave
Italian nartece
- nartecevestibule leading to the nave
Norwegian narthex
- narthexvestibule leading to the nave
Polish narteks
- narteksvestibule leading to the nave
Portuguese nártex
- nártexvestibule leading to the nave
Russian притво́р, на́ртекса
- притво́р (pritvór)vestibule leading to the nave
- на́ртекса (nárteksa)vestibule leading to the nave
Spanish nártex
- nártexvestibule leading to the nave
Swedish narthex
- narthexvestibule leading to the nave
Ukrainian бабинець, притво́р
- бабинець (babynecʹ)vestibule leading to the nave
- притво́р (prytvór)vestibule leading to the nave
Cite this entry
narthex. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/narthex
“narthex.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/narthex. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “narthex,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/narthex.
Source: narthex on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.