belfry

English

From Middle English belfrey, bellfray, belfray, from Old French belfroi, berfroi, berfrey (changed to have an ⟨l⟩ by association with bell), from Middle High German bërcvrit or bërvrit (“defensive tower”) (modern German Bergfried),[1][2][3] possibly via Late Latin berefredus, from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz. Doublet of bergfried.

belfry (plural belfries)

(architecture) A tower or steeple typically containing bells, especially as part of a church.
(architecture) A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
  From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.
(dialectal) A shed.
(obsolete) A movable tower used in sieges.
(obsolete) An alarm-tower; a watchtower possibly containing an alarm-bell.

tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church

Bulgarian: камбанария (kambanarija)
Catalan: campanar (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鐘樓／钟楼 (zh) (zhōnglóu)
Danish: klokketårn (da) n
Dutch: klokkentoren (nl) m, belfort (nl) m
Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
French: beffroi (fr) m
Friulian: cjampanîli, cjampanili, cjampanîl, cjampanil
German: Glockenturm (de) m
Greek: καμπαναριό (el) n (kampanarió), κωδωνοστάσιο (el) n (kodonostásio)
Hungarian: harangtorony (hu)
Irish: clogás m
Istriot: canpaneîl, canpanèil
Italian: campanile (it) m
Japanese: 鐘楼 (ja) (しょうろう, shōrō)
Manx: claggys m, thie cluig m, shamyr chluig f
Maori: pourewa pere
Polish: dzwonnica (pl) f
Portuguese: campanário (pt) m, torre sineira f
Romansch: clutger m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), clucher m (Puter, Vallader)
Russian: колоко́льня (ru) f (kolokólʹnja)
Spanish: campanil, campanario (es)
Swedish: klocktorn (sv)
Tagalog: batingawan
Ukrainian: дзвіни́ця (uk) f (dzvinýcja)
Venetian: canpanil, canpanile, canpanièl, canpaniłe
Welsh: clochdy m

part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells

Bulgarian: камбанария (kambanarija)
Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
German: Glockenstube (de) f
Greek: κωδωνοστάσιο (el) n (kodonostásio)
Hungarian: harangtorony (hu)
Irish: clogás m
Japanese: 鐘楼 (ja) (しょうろう, shōrō)
Maori: pourewa pere
Norwegian:
Bokmål: klokkerom n

Nynorsk: klokkerom n
Portuguese: campanário (pt) m
Romansch: clutger m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), clucher m (Puter, Vallader)
Spanish: campanario (es) m
Tagalog: batingawan

moveable tower used in sieges

watchtower containing an alarm-bell

Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “belfry”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
“belfry”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Alternative spelling and languages with loanwords from the Middle High German word, in Benecke's Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch

Michael Quinion (2004) “Belfry”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.

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