nave
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nave¹
- /neɪv/
Sounds like knave · Rhymes with -eɪv
Where it comes from
Ultimately from Latin nāvem, singular accusative of nāvis, possibly via a Romance source. Doublet of nef and nau.
noun naves
- The middle or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances. Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
- The ground-level middle cavity of a barn.
nave²
- /neɪv/
Sounds like knave · Rhymes with -eɪv
Where it comes from
From Middle English nave, from Old English nafu, from Proto-West Germanic *nabu, from Proto-Germanic *nabō (compare Dutch naaf, German Nabe, Swedish nav), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nebʰ- (“navel, hub”) (compare Latin umbō (“shield boss”), Latvian naba, Sanskrit नभ्य (nabhya)).
noun naves
- A hub of a wheel. 'Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods, In general synod take away her power; Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven[…]
- The navel. Till he faced the slave; / Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, / Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, / And fix'd his head upon our battlements
Nave³
Where it comes from
* As an English surname, from the noun knave.
* As a German surname Näve, variant of Neff, see Neve.
* As a Portuguese surname, from nave (“plain”), borrowed from Spanish nava, compare Nava.
proper noun Naves
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: hub, ship, vessel, nef, march, spaceship, spacecraft, hms, fresh, herz, nafe, center, nucleus, heart, axis, core
Translations
Talk about this word "nave." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/nave. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. nave. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/nave "nave." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/nave.Cite this
@misc{nave_2026,
title = {nave},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/nave},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
