spire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A tall, pointed structure on top of a tower or church roof.

   The cathedral's spire rose high above the town.

2. 2
   noun

   A sharp, narrowing point at the top of something.

   The dark spires of the fir trees stood against the evening sky.

Simplified etymology

Spire comes from Old English spīr, meaning a tall, slender plant stem, and is related to German Spier, “tip of a blade of grass.” From the late 16th century it was applied to similarly slender structures, including rock formations and church spires. It is unrelated to spiral, which comes from Latin spira, “coil.”

From Middle English spire, spyre, spier, spir, from Old English spīr, from Proto-Germanic *spīrō, *spīrǭ (“peak; point; tip; stalk”). Cognate with Dutch spier, German Low German Spier, German Spier, Spiere, Danish spir, Norwegian spir and spire, Swedish spira, Icelandic spíra.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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