Balustrades

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A set of posts or railings that create a boundary along elevated areas like stairs and balconies, often adding both safety and style to the architecture
2. Decorative supports made of multiple vertical members with a top rail or cap that secure edges around spaces such as staircases and terraces
3. Structures formed by a series of short pillars topped with a rail, used as a barrier or decorative edge along staircases or balconies

Etymology: The railing you lean on along a balcony owes its name to a flower. In ancient Greek, "balaustion" was the name of the wild pomegranate blossom, and the shape of its half-open bud, with its swelling curved form, was what early craftsmen had in mind when they gave the name to the small turned posts that support a rail. The Greek word passed into Latin as "balaustium", and Italian builders later used "balaustro" for those posts, and "balaustrata" for a railing built from them. French took up the Italian form as "balustrade", and English borrowed that French word directly, so the plural is simply "balustrades". The term is a sibling of "baluster", which names the individual post itself. Behind the Greek word lies a Semitic source, related to the Classical Syriac "blāṣā", meaning pomegranate shoot, which shows how far the name travelled before it reached a staircase or terrace.

Synonyms: railings, guardrails