pulpit

See also: púlpit

English

Etymology

From Middle English pulpit, from Old French pulpite and Latin pulpitum (“platform”). Doublet of pulpitum.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpʊlpɪt/, /ˈpʌlpɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʊlpɪt/, /ˈpʌlpɪt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊlpɪt, -ʌlpɪt
• Hyphenation: pul‧pit

Noun

pulpit (plural pulpits)

2. (Christianity) A raised platform in a church, usually enclosed, where the minister or preacher stands when giving the sermon.
   • 1915, Russell H. Conwell, Robert Shackleton, chapter IV, in Acres of Diamonds‎^[1], His Life and Achievements:

     Always, whether in the pulpit or on the platform, as in private conversation, there is an absolute simplicity about the man and his words; a simplicity, an earnestness, a complete honesty.

   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 12:

     [H]is `Amens' were ejected at the pulpit with the severity of a reprimand.

3. Activity performed from a church pulpit, in other words, preaching, sermons, religious teaching, the preaching profession, preachers collectively or an individual preaching position; by extension: bully pulpit.
4. A raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker.
5. (nautical) The railing at the bow of a boat, which sometimes extends past the deck. It is sometimes referred to as bow pulpit. The railing at the stern of the boat is sometimes referred to as a stern pulpit; other texts use the term pushpit.
6. A bow platform for harpooning.
7. (UK military slang, dated) A plane's cockpit.
   • 1941 March 24, Life, page 85:

     In the slang of the Royal Air Force man, the cockpit of his plane is the ‘pulpit’ or ‘office’, the glass covering over it the ‘greenhouse’.

Synonyms

• (place or occasion for public speaking): soap box, tribune
• (dated British slang for cockpit): office; see also cockpit

Derived terms

• bully pulpit
• Jack-in-the-pulpit
• parson-in-the-pulpit
• pulpital
• wayside pulpit

Related terms

• ambo

Translations

raised platform in church

• Arabic: مِنْبَر m (minbar)
• Armenian: ամբիոն (hy) (ambion)
• Basque: pulpitu
• Belarusian: кафедра f (kafjedra), трыбуна f (trybuna)
• Breton: kador-brezeg (br) f
• Bulgarian: амвон (bg) m (amvon)
• Catalan: púlpit (ca) m, trona (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 講臺 / 讲台 (gong² toi⁴)

  Mandarin: 講道壇 / 讲道坛 (jiǎngdàotán), 講臺 / 讲台 (zh) (jiǎngtái)

• Czech: kazatelna (cs) f
• Danish: prædikestol (da) c
• Dutch: kansel (nl) m, preekstoel (nl) m
• Esperanto: predikejo, podio
• Estonian: kantsel
• Faroese: prædikastólur m
• Finnish: saarnastuoli (fi), saarnatuoli (fi)
• French: chaire (fr) f
• Georgian: კათედრა (ḳatedra)
• German: (with a stairway) Kanzel (de) f; (not or just slightly raised) Ambo (de) m; Pult (de) n, Predigtstuhl m
• Greek: άμβωνας (el) m (ámvonas)
• Hebrew: במה (he) f (báma), בימה (he) f (bima) (also used to describe the platform in a synagogue where the rabbi conducts the sermon)
• Hungarian: szószék (hu)
• Icelandic: predikunarstóll m
• Ido: katedro (io)
• Irish: puilpid f, crannóg f
• Italian: pulpito (it) m
• Japanese: 講壇 (こうだん, koudan)
• Korean: 설교단 (seolgyodan)
• Latvian: kancele f
• Lithuanian: sakykla f
• Macedonian: проповедница f (propovednica)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prekestol (no) m

  Nynorsk: preikestol m

• Ottoman Turkish: كرسی (kürsi)
• Persian: منبر (fa) (menbar)
• Plautdietsch: Kaunsel f, Pult m
• Polish: ambona (pl) f, kazalnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: púlpito (pt) m
• Romanian: amvon (ro) n
• Russian: ка́федра (ru) f (káfedra)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùbaid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: проповједао́ница f

  Roman: propovjedaonica (sh) f

• Slovak: kazateľnica f
• Slovene: prižnica (sl) f
• Spanish: púlpito (es) m
• Swahili: dungu, mimbari (in a mosque)
• Swedish: predikstol (sv) f
• Tagalog: pulpito
• Thai: ธรรมาสน์ (tam-mâat)
• Ukrainian: катедра (uk) f (katedra), ка́федра (uk) f (káfedra), казальниця f (kazalʹnycja), амвон (uk) m (amvon)
• Vietnamese: tòa giảng (vi), toà giảng (vi), giảng đài, bục giảng
• Walloon: pirlodje (wa) f, pretchoe (wa) m, tcheyire di verité f
• Welsh: pulpud m

activity performed from a church pulpit

• Ukrainian: казання (uk) n (kazannja)

raised base for a speaker

• Bulgarian: подиум (bg) m (podium)
• Finnish: puhujakoroke (fi)

nautical: railing at the bow

• Dutch: preekstoel (nl) m
• Finnish: keulakaide

bow platform for harpooning

plane's cockpit — see cockpit

Middle English

Alternative forms

• pulpet, pollepyt, pullpite, polepitt, pulpitte, pulpytt, pulpette, pulpite

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pulpitum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpulpit/

Noun

pulpit

1. A pulpit (podium for religious oratory)
2. A podium for non-religious oratory.
3. (rare) A seat in a church for royalty.

Descendants

• English: pulpit
• Scots: poopit, poupit

References

• “pulpit, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-01-18.

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin pulpitum. Doublet of pult.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpul.pit/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ulpit
• Syllabification: pul‧pit

Noun

pulpit m inan (diminutive pulpicik)

1. (computing) desktop (the main graphical user interface of an operating system)
2. pulpit, lectern

Declension

Declension of pulpit

	singular	plural
nominative	pulpit	pulpity
genitive	pulpitu	pulpitów
dative	pulpitowi	pulpitom
accusative	pulpit	pulpity
instrumental	pulpitem	pulpitami
locative	pulpicie	pulpitach
vocative	pulpicie	pulpity

Derived terms

adjective

• pulpitowy

 

Further reading

• pulpit in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pulpit in Polish dictionaries at PWN