stylobate

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   architecture: the uppermost step or platform of a classical building's stepped base, directly supporting its columns

   The temple's marble columns rise from a slightly curved stylobate.

Borrowed through Latin stylobata from Greek stylobates, formed from stylos, 'pillar or column,' + a derivative of bainein, 'to step or walk.' The word literally evokes the platform on which columns stand.

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