baldacchin
UK/ˈbaldəkɪn//ˈbældəkɪn/
baldacchin noun: a rich, embroidered brocade used for clothing in the Middle Ages, the web being gold and the woof silk.
Noun
baldacchin (plural baldacchins)
- A rich, embroidered brocade used for clothing in the Middle Ages, the web being gold and the woof silk.
- A canopy suspended over an altar or throne, originally made of this fabric; a ciborium.
- Bernini had already provided the chief coup de théâtre of the basilica's interior, the monumental bronze canopy or baldachino over the high altar and tomb of St Peter.2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, Penguin, published 2010, page 682
- A building in the form of a canopy, or a crown supported by pillars for the covering of an altar; a canopy carried over the host in Roman Catholic countries.
- BALDACHIN is a Building in form of a Canopy, or Crown ſupported by Pillars, often ſerving for the Covering of an Altar; Alſo a Canopy carried over the Hoſt in Popiſh Countries.[1721, N[athan] Bailey, “BALDACHIN”, in An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Bell, J. Darby, […], →OCLC, column 1
Forms of baldacchin
| plural | baldacchins |
|---|---|
| alternative form | baldacchino |
| alternative form | baldachin |
| alternative form | baldachino |
| alternative form | baldakin |
| alternative form | baldaquin |
| alternative form | baudekin |
| alternative form | baudekyn |
| alternative form | baudkin |
| alternative form | baudkyn |
| alternative form | bawdekin |
Origin of baldacchin
Borrowed from French baldaquin, from Italian baldacchino, from Baldacca, a variant of Baghdad, where the material originally came from.
Questions about baldacchin
- What does baldacchin mean?
- Baldacchin means a rich, embroidered brocade used for clothing in the Middle Ages, the web being gold and the woof silk.
- What part of speech is baldacchin?
- Baldacchin is a noun.
- How do you pronounce baldacchin?
- Baldacchin is pronounced /ˈbaldəkɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of baldacchin?
- The plural of baldacchin is baldacchins.
Words near baldacchin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: baldacchin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-baldachin.wav.
Cite this entry: “baldacchin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/baldacchin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.