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cor·bel

(kôrbəl, -bĕl′)

A piece of stone, wood, brick, or other building material, projecting from the face of a wall and generally used to support a cornice or arch.

tr.v. cor·beled, cor·bel·ing, cor·bels also cor·belled or cor·bel·ling

To provide with or support by a corbel or corbels.

[Middle English, from Old French, diminutive of corp, raven (from the similarity of its shape to that of a raven's beak), from Latin corvus.]

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corbel

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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