entasis
/ˈɛntəsɪs/noun
entasis is a noun meaning “A slight convex curvature introduced into the shaft of a column for aesthetic reasons, or to compensate for the illusion of concavity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled E-N-T-A-S-I-S, and it appears about once in every 87 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of entasis is entases.
What does entasis mean?
noun
- 1
A slight convex curvature introduced into the shaft of a column for aesthetic reasons, or to compensate for the illusion of concavity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce entasis?
- /ˈɛntəsɪs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of entasis
- entases plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is entasis?
Entasis appears about once in every 87 million words in written English, the 297,763rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Entasis in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense slight convex curvature in a column:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | éntasis |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does entasis come from?
From Latin entasis, from Ancient Greek ἔντασις (éntasis, “tension, straining”), from ἐντείνω (enteínō, “to stretch or strain tight”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).