Meanings
nave1
plural naves
- architectureThe middle or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances.
Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC - architectureThe ground-level middle cavity of a barn.
nave2
plural naves
- A hub of a wheel.
'Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods, In general synod take away her power; Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven[…]
c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]1 more example
In the original context of the World Wide Web the ’authorities’ are information sources, whereas herein the ’authorities’ are the material sinks. The hubs remain the ’naves’ in the link structure but are the sources of material. Continuing the wheel analogy, the authorities would be ‘spoke nipples’
2024, Thérèse G. Lee Chan, David A. Janes, Kyle P. Joshua, “Filtering ‘3–2’ industrial symbiosis networks at a carbon-intensive cluster in a small island developing state to reuse CO₂ and water”, in Chemical Engineering Research and Design, volume 212, →DOI, page 45 - obsoleteThe navel.
Till he faced the slave; / Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, / Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, / And fix'd his head upon our battlements
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]
Nave3
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
nave · noun
- Latinnāvem
- Englishnave
Ultimately from Latin nāvem, singular accusative of nāvis, possibly via a Romance source. Doublet of nef and nau.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →nave · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃nebʰ-“navel, hub”
- Proto-Germanic*nabō
- Proto-West Germanic*nabu
- Old Englishnafu
- Middle Englishnave
- Englishnave
From Middle English nave, from Old English nafu, from Proto-West Germanic *nabu, from Proto-Germanic *nabō (compare Dutch naaf, German Nabe, Swedish nav), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nebʰ- (“navel, hub”) (compare Latin umbō (“shield boss”), Latvian naba, Sanskrit नभ्य (nabhya)).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic صَحْن
- صَحْن (ṣaḥn)the middle or body of a church
Basque habearte
- habeartethe middle or body of a church
Bulgarian неф
- неф (nef)the middle or body of a church
Catalan nau
- nauthe middle or body of a church
Chinese Mandarin 中殿
- 中殿 (zhōngdiàn)the middle or body of a church
Czech loď
- loďthe middle or body of a church
Danish skib
- skibthe middle or body of a church
Dutch schip
- schipthe middle or body of a church
Esperanto navo
- navothe middle or body of a church
Estonian lööv
- löövthe middle or body of a church
Finnish laiva, päälaiva
- laivathe middle or body of a church
- päälaivathe middle or body of a church
French nef
- nefthe middle or body of a church
German Schiff
- Schiffthe middle or body of a church
Greek ναυς
- ναυς (nafs)the middle or body of a church
Hebrew סְפִינָה
- סְפִינָה (sfiná)the middle or body of a church
Hungarian hajó, templomhajó
- hajóthe middle or body of a church
- templomhajóthe middle or body of a church
Irish corp na heaglaise, meánlann
- corp na heaglaisethe middle or body of a church
- meánlannthe middle or body of a church
Italian navata
- navatathe middle or body of a church
Japanese 身廊
- 身廊 (shinrō)the middle or body of a church
Korean 신랑
- 신랑 (sillang)the middle or body of a church
Latin nāvis
- nāvisthe middle or body of a church
Latvian ratu rumba
- ratu rumbathe middle or body of a church
Lithuanian nava
- navathe middle or body of a church
Norwegian Bokmål midtskip
- midtskipthe middle or body of a church
Polish nawa główna, nawa
- nawa głównathe middle or body of a church
- nawathe middle or body of a church
Portuguese nave
- navethe middle or body of a church
Romanian naos, navă
- naosthe middle or body of a church
- navăthe middle or body of a church
Russian неф, кора́бль
- неф (nɛf)the middle or body of a church
- кора́бль (koráblʹ)the middle or body of a church
- ладья́ (ladʹjá)the middle or body of a church
Slovak loď
- loďthe middle or body of a church
Spanish nave
- navethe middle or body of a church
Swedish skepp
- skeppthe middle or body of a church
Tagalog nabe
- nabethe middle or body of a church
Turkish kilise ortası
- kilise ortasıthe middle or body of a church
Ukrainian неф, на́ва
- неф (nef)the middle or body of a church
- на́ва (náva)the middle or body of a church
Welsh corff
- corffthe middle or body of a church
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with nave
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
nave. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nave
“nave.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nave. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nave,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nave.
Source: nave on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.