chandelier

English

An elaborate chandelier

Two chandeliers, stacked with fascines. (The image is cut off, there is an unseen third chandelier to the left.)

Etymology

Borrowed from French chandelier, from Latin candelabrum, from candela (“a candle”). Doublet of candelabrum. See also candle.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌʃæn.dəˈlɪə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌʃæn.dəˈlɪɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Noun

chandelier (plural chandeliers)

1. A branched, often ornate, lighting fixture suspended from the ceiling
   • 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House Is Built, Chapter VII, Section vi:

     She opened the drawing-room door in trepidation. Would she find Esther drowned with her head in the goldfish bowl, or hanged from the chandelier by her stay-lace?

2. (auction, often attributive) A fictional bidder used to increase the price at an auction.

   Synonym: wall

   • 2007, Frank Pope, "Dragon Sea: a true tale of treasure, archeology, and greed off the coast of Vietnam", Harcourt Books, p. 306.

     A mysterious phone bidder was grabbing the pieces that no one else wanted—Mensun suspected this was the auction house "bidding against the chandelier," protecting itself against selling too low.

   • 2010, Don Thompson, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, Aurum Press Limited, →ISBN:

     The bids are usually real but can be fake or ‘chandelier’ bids (non-existing bids taken ‘off the chandelier’) on behalf of the consignor, or bids left with the auctioneer in advance.

3. (obsolete, military) A portable frame used to support temporary wooden fences.
   • 1747, James Boswell, The Scots Book, volume 9, page 37:

     Chandelier. A wooden frame, whereon are laid fascines or faggots, to cover the workmen in making approaches.

   • 1994, Todd A. Shallat, Structures in the Stream: Water, Science, and the Rise of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, University of Texas Press, page 32:

     Europeans solved this problem by building a temporary fence with tightly bound sticks ("fascines") stacked into wooden frames ("chandeliers").

4. (surgery) An endoilluminator used in eye surgery.

Derived terms

• chandelier bid
• chandelier bidding
• chandelier earring
• chandeliered
• chandelier exit
• chandelierlike
• chandelier plant
• chandelier plant
• chandelier stop
• gasalier
• not the brightest bulb in the chandelier

 

Related terms

• candela
• candelabrum
• candid
• candidate
• candle
• candlepower
• candlestick
• chandler
• chandlery
• electrolier
• lustre
• sconce

Translations

branched, often ornate, lighting fixture suspended from the ceiling

• Albanian: llambadar (sq) m
• Arabic: ثُرَيَّا f (ṯurayyā), نَجَفَة f (najafa)

  Egyptian Arabic: نجفة f (nagafa)

  Hijazi Arabic: نجفة f (najafa)

  Moroccan Arabic: ترية f (triyya)

• Armenian: ջահ (hy) (ǰah), (colloquial) լյուստրա (hy) (lyustra)
• Azerbaijani: çilçıraq (az)
• Basque: argi-armiarma
• Belarusian: лю́стра f (ljústra), жырандо́ль f (žyrandólʹ) (with candles), жырандо́ля f (žyrandólja)
• Bengali: ঝাড়বাতি (jhaṛbati)
• Bulgarian: полиле́й (bg) m (poliléj)
• Burmese: မီးပဒေသာ (my) (mi:pa.desa)
• Catalan: aranya (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 吊燈／吊灯 (diu³ dang¹)

  Mandarin: 吊燈／吊灯 (zh) (diàodēng)

• Coptic: ^{(please verify)} ⲗⲁϧⲏⲃⲥ (laxēbs)
• Czech: lustr (cs) m
• Danish: lysekrone c
• Dutch: kroonluchter (nl) m, luster (nl) m (Belgium)
• Elfdalian: liuoskraungen f, liuoskruon f
• Esperanto: lustro (eo)
• Estonian: kroonlühter, lühter
• Faroese: ljósakrúna f
• Finnish: kattokruunu (fi)
• French: lustre (fr) m
• Georgian: ჭაღი (ka) (č̣aɣi)
• German: Kronleuchter (de) m, Lüster (de) m (dated), Luster (de) m (Austria)
• Greek: πολυέλαιος (el) m (polyélaios)
• Greenlandic: inimi qullersuaq, naneruuserfissuaq
• Gujarati: ઝુમ્મર (jhummar)
• Hebrew: נִבְרֶשֶׁת (he) f (nivréshet)
• Hindi: झाड़ (hi) m (jhāṛ), झाड़-फ़ानूस m (jhāṛ-fānūs), झूमर (hi) m (jhūmar)
• Hungarian: csillár (hu)
• Icelandic: ljósakróna (is) f
• Indonesian: kandelir (id)
• Irish: crann solais m, coinnleoir craobhach m
• Italian: candelabro (it) m, lampadario (it) m
• Japanese: シャンデリア (ja) (shanderia)
• Kazakh: аспашам (aspaşam), люстра (lüstra)
• Korean: 샹들리에 (syangdeullie)
• Kyrgyz: шамчырактын (şamcıraktın), люстра (lyustra), асмачырак (asmacırak), асмашам (asmaşam)
• Latvian: lustra (lv) f
• Lithuanian: sietynas m, liustra f
• Luxembourgish: Lüster
• Macedonian: лустер m (luster)
• Malay: candelier, kandil
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lysekrone m or f

  Nynorsk: ljosekrone f, lysekrone f

• Persian: لوستِر (fa) (luster), نورافشان (fa) (nurâfšân), قَندیل (fa) (qandil) (dated)
• Polish: żyrandol (pl) m
• Portuguese: lustre (pt) m
• Romanian: candelabru (ro) n, lustră (ro) f
• Romansch: candelaber m, lampadari m
• Russian: лю́стра (ru) f (ljústra)
• Samoan: moli tautau
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лу̀стер m, светилник m

  Roman: lùster (sh) m, svetilnik m

• Silesian: krůnlojter m, krōnlojter m
• Slovak: luster m
• Slovene: lestenec (sl) m
• Spanish: araña de luces (es), lámpara de araña f, candil (es) m
• Swahili: thurea
• Swedish: ljuskrona c, takkrona (sv) c, kristallkrona (sv) c
• Tagalog: aranya
• Tajik: лустер (tg) (luster), қандил (qandil), чилчароғ (čilčaroġ)
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: โคมระย้า (koom-rá-yáa)
• Turkish: avize (tr), şandölye
• Turkmen: lýustra
• Ukrainian: лю́стра f (ljústra), жирандо́ль f (žyrandólʹ)
• Urdu: جھاڑ m (jhāṛ)
• Uyghur: ئاسما چىراغ (asma chiragh), ئاسما چىراق (asma chiraq)
• Uzbek: lyustra (uz), qandil (uz), chilchiroq (uz)
• Vietnamese: đèn treo, đèn chùm
• Welsh: canhwyllyr m, siandelïer f, siandelïers f pl
• Yiddish: בליצלאָמפּ m (blitslomp), לוסטרע f (lustre), שאַנדאָליער m (shandolyer) (rare), שענדעליר m (shendelir), זשיראַנדאָל m (zhirandol), הענגלײַכטער m (henglaykhter)

Further reading

• “chandelier”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “chandelier”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑ̃.də.lje/

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin candēlābrum, with a change in suffix. Doublet of candélabre.

Noun

chandelier m (plural chandeliers)

1. candlestick
2. chandelier

Related terms

• chandelle

Etymology 2

From chandelle +‎ -ier, or from Medieval Latin candelārius. Compare Catalan candeler, Italian candelaio, Spanish candelero.

Noun

chandelier m (plural chandeliers)

1. candlemaker

Further reading

• “chandelier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Noun

chandelier m (plural chandelieres)

1. chandelier