newel.
Either of two kinds of supporting post in a staircase.
Meaning & usage
Either of two kinds of supporting post in a staircase. A central pillar around which some types of spiral staircase are spiralled.
Either of two kinds of supporting post in a staircase. A sturdy pillar at the top or bottom of a flight of stairs, supporting the handrail.
Where this word comes from
Inherited from Middle English nowel, *newel, from Old French noel, from either Early Medieval Latin nōdellus (“buckle”, diminutive of nōdus "knot") or Late Latin nucālis (“nut-like”, derivative of nux "nut"). Doublet of noil and noyau.
A novelty; a new thing.
Where this word comes from
From new + -el, modelled after novel (“new, original”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.