balcony

noun

bal·​co·​ny ˈbal-kə-nē 

plural balconies

1

: a platform that projects from the wall of a building and is enclosed by a parapet or railing

2

: an interior projecting gallery in a public building (such as a theater)

balconied

ˈbal-kə-nēd 

adjective

Illustration of balcony

• balcony 1

Synonyms of balcony

• deck
• terrace
• porch

Examples of balcony in a Sentence

We asked for a hotel room with a balcony.

on summer mornings I often have breakfast out on the balcony

Recent Examples on the Web

With 168 rooms and suites—some boasting water-facing balconies—the resort displays Texas-forward artwork and contemporary, clean finishes. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Aug. 2026

At other moments, conversation and connection were happening right outside on the balcony between attendees, some of whom were meeting each other for the first time. — Shi Bradley, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026

In the building across the street, an old woman came out onto her balcony in a nightgown, a toddler in tow, and began banging a pot. — Daniel Castro, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2026

The calm guest bedrooms all spill onto patios or balconies, while a bunkroom with double beds offers ample space for both children and adults. — Tori Latham, Robb Report, 18 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Italian balcone, earlier also "window (opening), bay window," probably, via the sense "board closing a window, shutter" (as in Upper Italian —15th-century Venetian— balchon "window shutter"), from balc- (borrowed from Langobardic *balkōn "beam," going back to Germanic) + -one, noun suffix, going back to Latin -ō, -ōn-, suffix of nouns denoting persons with a prominent feature — more at balk entry 2

Note: The Germanic n-stem *balkōn has been adapted to Italo-Romance by means of the suffix -one; parallel adaptations are Italian gherone "gusset, gore," going back, via Langobardic, to Germanic *gaizōn "wedge, flap of a garment" (see gore entry 1); magone (early and regional) "stomach, gizzard," going back to Germanic *magōn "stomach." Balcone in the sense "window" is attested in literary Tuscan since Boccaccio (1341) and persists into the twentieth century most strongly in dialects of the northeast (Veneto, Trentino, Friuli—see Lessico etimologico italiano, Germanismi, vol. 1); attestations in Medieval Latin go back to the twelfth century or earlier. Presumably this meaning is an extension from earlier "shutter," attested in a narrower range of Upper Italian dialects and going back to the fifteenth century in a Venetian text. H. and R. Kahane ("Balcone, the Window," Romance Philology, vol. 30, no. 4 [May, 1977], pp. 565-73) take "board closing a glassless window opening" as the original Langobardic meaning. Note in this regard balcón "trapdoor in the floor of a hayloft" in a dialect of Ticino, with comparable forms and senses in Ladin. A different angle appears to be followed by the Lessico, which points to the meaning "plank floor" (ballatoio), attested as Upper Italian balcon (thirteenth century), Genoese barcon (before 1311), and Piedmontese balcon (thirteenth century). The sense "plank floor" would then have hypothetically been extended to "window sill" (which would have been at or slightly above the level of the floor), and then "window opening." The Lessico records the sense "balcony" in the vernacular in 1312, though Latin forms of the word—in either the sense "balcony" or "opening for a window, bay"— are significantly earlier; according to the Kahanes, who believed balcones was broadcast through western Europe by the Cluniac reforms, they can be dated to the tenth century in England, though this would be earlier than Italian records. The later promulgation of the Italian word to European languages in the quite specific sense "balcony" was a product of the Renaissance and the influence of Italian architecture.

First Known Use

1618, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

balcony

noun

bal·​co·​ny ˈbal-kə-nē 

plural balconies

1

: a platform enclosed by a low wall or railing and built out from the side of a building

2

: a platform inside a building extending out over part of the main floor (as of a theater)