pediment

English

The upper part of the Madeleine Church in Paris, showing the pediment with its neoclassical sculptures

Etymology

From the earlier form peremint, perhaps a dialectal alteration of pyramid, under the influence of -ment.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛd.ɪ.mənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdɪmənt

Noun

pediment (plural pediments)

1. (architecture) A classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure (entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns; fronton.
   • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5:

     Passing the Congregation Shearith Israel on Central Park West (a white whale of a building with a triangular pediment supported by four count ’em four massive Corinthian columns), Professor Solanka scurrying through the downpour remembered the newly bat-mitzvahed thirteen-year-old girl he’d glimpsed through the side door, […]

2. (geology) A very gently sloping (0.5°-7°) inclined bedrock surface.

Derived terms

• gooseneck pediment

Related terms

• frontispiece
• tympanum

Translations

architectural element

• Bulgarian: фронтон m (fronton)
• Catalan: frontó (ca) m
• Dutch: fronton (nl)
• Estonian: frontoon
• Finnish: päätykolmio (fi), frontoni (fi)
• French: fronton (fr) m
• German: Giebeldreieck n, Giebelfeld n, Frontispiz (de) n, Bekrönung f, Fronton n, Frontspieß m, Ziergiebel (de) m, Giebel (de) m, Pedimentfläche f
• Greek: αέτωμα (el) n (aétoma)

  Ancient: ἀέτωμα n (aétōma)

• Icelandic: bjór (is) m, gaflbrík f, gaflhlað n
• Ido: frontono (io)
• Italian: frontone (it) m
• Latin: fastīgium n
• Ottoman Turkish: آلنلق (alınlık)
• Polish: fronton (pl) m, przyczółek (pl) m
• Portuguese: frontão (pt) m
• Russian: фронто́н (ru) m (frontón)
• Spanish: frontón (es) m
• Swedish: fronton (sv)
• Turkish: alınlık (tr)