rafter

See also: Rafter

English

Church ceiling with trussed rafters

Pronunciation

• (non-rhotic)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑːftəː/, [ˈɹʷɑːftəː]

    • Audio (Southern England):

      (file)

• (rhotic)
  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɹæftɚ/, [ˈɹʷæftɚ] ~ [ˈɹʷæftɹ̩]
• Rhymes: -ɑːftə(ɹ), -æftə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: raft‧er

Etymology 1

From Old English ræfter, of Germanic origin, related to the origin of raft.

Noun

rafter (plural rafters)

1. (architecture) One of a series of sloped beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.
   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

     […] the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters

2. (collective) A flock of turkeys.

Derived terms

• jack rafter
• packed to the rafters
• rafterless
• rafter snapper
• valley rafter

Translations

one of a series of sloped beams

• Albanian: tra (sq)
• Armenian: ծպեղ (hy) (cpeġ)
• Bulgarian: мертек (bg) m (mertek)
• Catalan: biga (ca) f, jàssena (ca) f, jàssera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 椽 (zh) (chuán), 椽子 (zh) (chuánzi)

• Czech: krokev (cs) f
• Dalmatian: trua f
• Danish: spær n, tagspær n
• Dutch: dakspant (nl) n
• Esperanto: ĉevrono, ^{(please verify)} tegmenta trabaro (collectively)
• Estonian: sarikas
• Finnish: selkäpuu, yläpaarre
• French: chevron (fr) m
• Galician: cango m, tesoira (gl) f
• German: Sparren (de) m

  Alemannic German: Tilbaum

• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: στρωτήρ m (strōtḗr)

• Hawaiian: kua, oʻa
• Hungarian: tetőgerenda (hu), szarufa (hu)
• Irish: rachta m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} travetto m, ^{(please verify)} travicello (it) m, passafuori m, trave (it) f, puntone (it) m
• Japanese: 垂木 (ja) (たるき, taruki)
• Kikuyu: mũitĩrĩro class 3
• Korean: 서까래 (ko) (seokkarae)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کاریتە (karîte)

  Northern Kurdish: karîte (ku)

• Latin: trabs (la) f
• Lithuanian: gegnė f
• Macedonian: сплав m (splav), скеле (mk) n (skele), чатма f (čatma)
• Malay: kasau (ms)
• Mansaka: kasaw
• Māori: heke, nehe, oka
• Middle English: sparre
• Naga:

  Khiamniungan Naga: tīuthùap kîe

• Norman: crévon m
• Occitan: cabiron (oc) m
• Old English: ræfter m
• Persian: فرسپ (fa) (farasp)
• Plautdietsch: Baulkjen m, Spoa n, Dakspoa n
• Polish: krokiew (pl) f

  Old Polish: krokiew f

• Portuguese: caibro (pt) m, viga (pt) f, trave (pt) f
• Rarotongan: oka
• Romanian: căprior (ro) m
• Russian: стропи́ло (ru) n (stropílo), ба́лка (ru) f (bálka) (beam)
• Scottish Gaelic: cabar m
• Slovak: krokva f
• Spanish: viga (es) f, jácena (es) f
• Swedish: taksparre c, sparre (sv) c
• Tagalog: balakilan
• Tamil: கைமரம் (ta) (kaimaram), கை (ta) (kai)
• Telugu: వాసము (te) (vāsamu)
• Thai: จันทัน (th) (jan-tan)
• Turkish: mertek (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: مرتك (mertek)

• Ukrainian: кроква f (krokva)
• Welsh: tulath f, ceibren f

Verb

rafter (third-person singular simple present rafters, present participle raftering, simple past and past participle raftered)

1. (transitive) To make (timber, etc.) into rafters.
2. (transitive) To furnish (a building) with rafters.
3. (UK, agriculture) To plough so as to turn the grass side of each furrow upon an unploughed ridge; to ridge.

References

• “rafter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

From raft + -er.

Noun

rafter (plural rafters)

1. A raftsman.

Anagrams

• Frater, farter, frater