exonarthex
exonarthex noun: the space anterior to the narthex of a church, sometimes roofed-over as with a porch, but more often an enclosed courtyard; in antiquity, the courtyard where catechumens were permitted to be close to the Eucharist, but forbidden to see it celebrated.
Noun
exonarthex (plural exonarthexes or exonarthices)
- The space anterior to the narthex of a church, sometimes roofed-over as with a porch, but more often an enclosed courtyard; in antiquity, the courtyard where catechumens were permitted to be close to the Eucharist, but forbidden to see it celebrated.
- The exonarthex is of inferior workmanship, and has been thought by some of later date than the rest of the church; but there seems no ground for this belief.1850, John Mason Neale, A History of the Holy Eastern Church: The Patriarchate of Alexandria
Forms of exonarthex
| plural | exonarthexes |
|---|---|
| plural | exonarthices |
Origin of exonarthex
From exo- + narthex.
Questions about exonarthex
- What does exonarthex mean?
- Exonarthex means the space anterior to the narthex of a church, sometimes roofed-over as with a porch, but more often an enclosed courtyard; in antiquity, the courtyard where catechumens were permitted to be close to the Eucharist, but forbidden to see it celebrated.
- What part of speech is exonarthex?
- Exonarthex is a noun.
- What is the plural of exonarthex?
- The plural of exonarthex is exonarthexes.
Words near exonarthex in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: exonarthex (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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Cite this entry: “exonarthex.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/exonarthex. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.