nave

1 of 2

noun (1)

ˈnāv How to pronounce nave (audio)
: the hub of a wheel

nave

2 of 2

noun (2)

: the main part of the interior of a church
especially : the long narrow central hall in a cruciform church that rises higher than the aisles flanking it to form a clerestory

Examples of nave in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Philippe Petit, now 74, at his Upstate New York home, rehearsing for his walk across the nave of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. —Martha Teichner, CBS News, 4 Aug. 2024 The museum's nave, reconfigured to exhibit furniture that speaks to the themes of intimacy. —Amy Verner, Vogue, 19 Oct. 2024 When excavations at Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral unearthed a pair of lead coffins hidden beneath the church’s nave in early 2022, archaeologists immediately recognized the sarcophagi’s significance. —Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Sep. 2024 Those diverse traits are on brilliant display in the piles of multicolored and idiosyncratically shaped pears and apples inside what was once the nave of the 13th-century church that is now Dalla Ragione’s home. —Mark Schapiro, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for nave 

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English nave, naff, going back to Old English nafu (also nafa, masculine n-stem), going back to Germanic *naƀō- (whence also Old Saxon nava "nave, hub," Middle Dutch nave, Old High German naba, Old Icelandic nǫf "fastening by which beams of a log house are held together at the corner, nave of a wheel"), going back to Indo-European *h3nobh-eh2, whence also Latvian naba "navel, nave of a wheel," Sanskrit nābhā- (in the personal name Nā́bhānédiṣṭaḥ "one closely related"), and with variant stem formations Old Prussian nabis "navel, nave," Sanskrit nábhyam "nave of a wheel" (Indo-European *h3nobh-i̯o-), Old Danish naff, neuter, "nave," Danish, Swedish & Norwegian nav, Avestan nāfa- "navel, origin, blood relationship" (Indo-European *h3nobh-o-), Sanskrit nā́bhiḥ "nave, navel, midpoint, origin, kinship (Indo-European *h3nobh-i-)

Note: Compare navel.

Noun (2)

Medieval Latin navis, from Latin, ship; akin to Old English nōwend sailor, Greek naus ship, Sanskrit nau

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1673, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nave was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near nave

Navarrese

nave

nave arcade

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Nave.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nave. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.

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Kids Definition

nave

1 of 2 noun
ˈnāv How to pronounce nave (audio)
: the hub of a wheel

nave

2 of 2 noun
: the long central main part of a church

More from Merriam-Webster on nave

Nglish: Translation of nave for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of nave for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about nave

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