Pillars

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpɪlɚz/

Definitions

1. A vertical structure used to support buildings or other constructions ; a basic or essential principle that supports a system or idea
2. A tall upright post that bears weight in architecture or construction ; a core or fundamental element vital to a concept or organization
3. A strong vertical column holding up a building or monument ; a key foundational idea or principle underlying a belief or system

Etymology: "Pillars" is the plural of "pillar," and the English word arrived in the Middle Ages by way of French. The Old English native word for a column was "sweor," and "stapol" also existed, but both were pushed out by the Old French "pilier." That French word came from Medieval Latin or Vulgar Latin "*pilāre," a pillar, built on the classical Latin "pila," meaning a pillar, pier, or mole. So the English word for a column is not native at all: the older Anglo-Saxon terms gave way to a borrowing from the Romance languages. The Latin "pila" is also the source of the word's more familiar cousins. Roman builders used it for the piers and supports of bridges and structures, and the sense of a stone upright that bears weight stayed fixed through every stage of the word's journey. The figurative sense, a foundational principle holding up a belief or system, grew out of that image of a column as the thing a structure rests on.

Synonyms: columns, supports, posts

Antonyms: weakness, collapse