Definition of CAMPANILE

campanile

Meanings

Plural: campaniles, campanili

Noun

  • a bell tower; usually stands alone unattached to a building
  • A bell tower (especially one that is freestanding), often associated with a church or other public building, especially in Italy.

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed from Italian campanile (“bell tower, belfry”), from campana (“bell”) + -ile (suffix forming nouns indicating locations that host animals or objects). Campana is derived from Late Latin and Medieval Latin campāna (“large bell used in late classical or medieval church towers or steeples; tower for such a bell, belfry, campanile”), and then either:
* traditionally regarded to be from Latin Campāna (“region of Campania, Italy”) (because bells were supposedly introduced in Christian services in Nola, a diocese of Campania, by Saint Paulinus (c. 354 – 431), though the story has been discredited), from Campānus (“relating to the region of Campania, Italy, or its inhabitants, Campanian”), from campus (“field, plain”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives, which are sometimes used as nouns); or
* from Ancient Greek καπάνη (kapánē, “felt helmet”) (apparently because of the similarity in shape).
The plural form campanili is derived from Italian campanili.

Synonyms

belfry

Scrabble Score: 15

campanile is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
campanile is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
campanile is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 20

campanile is a valid Words With Friends word