tracery

English

Rayonnant bar tracery, Notre-Dame de Paris

Etymology

From trace +‎ -ery.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹeɪsəɹi/

Noun

tracery (plural traceries)

1. (architecture) Bars or ribs, usually of stone or wood, or other material, that subdivide an opening or stand in relief against a door or wall as an ornamental feature.
   • 1921, Elizabeth Boyle O'Reilly, How France Built Her Cathedrals‎^[1], Harper & Brothers, page 140:

     Because of the flamelike undulations of its window tracery, the Norman archæologist, M. de Caumont, who had brought into use the name Romanesque, invented the equally useful term Flamboyant.

2. (by extension) A delicate interlacing of lines reminiscent of the architectural ornament.
   • 1874, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Ordered South”, in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1881, →OCLC:

     He is homesick for the hale rough weather; for the tracery of the frost upon his window-panes at morning, the reluctant descent of the first flakes, and the white roofs relieved against the sombre sky.

Derived terms

• fan tracery
• stump tracery

 

Translations

bars or ribs as an ornamental feature

• Bulgarian: фигура (bg) f (figura)
• Catalan: traceria f
• French: tracerie (fr) f
• German: Maßwerk (de) n
• Italian: traforo (it) m
• Portuguese: traceria f
• Spanish: tracería (es) f

Further reading

• tracery on Wikipedia.Wikipedia