trave

beam, rafter

noun TRAH-veh Rare

Origin: From Latin trabs/trabem, 'beam'.

Usage Note

Trave is feminine despite its ending — la trave. The plural is regular: le travi. It refers to a structural load-bearing beam in construction (le travi del soffitto — 'the ceiling beams'). In the Gospel proverb about seeing the splinter in another's eye but not the beam in one's own, Italian uses trave: non vedi la trave nel tuo occhio.

Examples

"Le travi del soffitto sono in legno antico."

Natural Translation

The ceiling beams are made of old wood.

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