barbican

noun

bar·bi·can | \ ˈbär-bi-kən

How to pronounce barbican (audio)

\

Definition of barbican

: an outer defensive work especially : a tower at a gate or bridge

Did You Know?

You’ve heard of moats and drawbridges, but "barbicans" may be unfamiliar. Those stone outerworks stood in front of the gate of a castle or bridge and helped prevent invaders from gaining access to the main entryway. Up to a point, the case for the history of the word barbican is well fortified. It is clear that English speakers seized the term from the Anglo-French barbecane, which in turn had been taken from the Medieval Latin barbacana (both of those words had the same meaning as the modern word). The etymological path crumbles from there, however. Some speculate that the ultimate ancestor of "barbican" might lie in a Persian phrase meaning "house on the wall," but that speculation has never been proven.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about barbican

Listen to Our Podcast about barbican

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Dictionary Entries near barbican

barbette carriage

Statistics for barbican

Cite this Entry

“Barbican.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barbican. Accessed 26 Feb. 2021.

Style: MLA

MLA

Chicago

APA

Merriam-Webster

WORD OF THE DAY

megillah

Listen to the pronunciation of megillah

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary

February 2021 Words of the Day Quiz

Which is a synonym of perdure?

Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Anagram puzzles meet word search.

TAKE THE QUIZ