overwordExplorer
LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

cella.

storeroom, (wine) cellar, larder; temple chamber, sanctuary; room, garret; pen; cell; monastery;

5 characters2 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

noun[ˈkɛl.la]Classical-Latin[ˈt͡ʃɛl.la]
  1. a small room, a hut, storeroom

    declension-1 · feminine
  2. a barn, granary

    declension-1 · feminine
  3. the part of a temple where the image of a god stood; altar, sanctuary, shrine, pantry

    declension-1 · feminine
Where this word comes from

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”), although the specific formation is uncertain. De Vaan posits as possible Proto-Italic forms *kēli- and *kēlā-. He suggests that the latter may have yielded cella by the Latin littera rule, whereby a long vowel followed by a single consonant was replaced by a short vowel followed by a geminate consonant. He also considers a diminutive formation *kēl-elā- > *kellā-, or, if formed directly from *ḱel-, *kel-ilā; other possible preforms are *kel-nā-, *kel-sā-, and *kel-dā-. Cognates within Latin include clam, color, cēlō; within Italic, Faliscan 𐌂𐌄𐌋𐌀 (cela), Oscan kellaked (“he has stored”); outside Italic, Proto-Germanic *helaną (“to hide, conceal”), Sanskrit शाला (śā́lā, “large tent, building”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

cella has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

cella studiocella workshello, cella

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.