mansard roof
1
8.1
- noun
- /ˈmæn.sɑrd ruːf/
- Specialized
:
techo mansarda
- You'll know the Wentworth Mansion, built by a wealthy cotton merchant, by its mansard roof and cupola.
Examples
-
With a mansard roof and painted white, it stood at the end of a long driveway.
-
With a mansard roof and painted white, it stood at the end of a long driveway.
Academic text (2009) -
With its pale blue clapboards and mansard roof surmounted by a turret, it was a miniature of the main house except for interior modifications.
Fiction book (1999) -
She didn't know where she was driving, only that she did not want the desk nearby, so she drove to where the houses were single-family, not carved into apartments, and soon she was in the neighborhood where she had found the desk in the first place. Then she made a few deliberate turns and pulled up to the curb by the house with the mansard roof.
Fiction book (1995) -
The house, a two-story gray-frame structure with bay windows and a mansard roof, was built by Mary Pleasant.
Synonyms
1
8.9
A roof with two slopes on each side, the lower slope steeper to create extra room
A roof with very steep sides and a flat top that gives extra attic space
How Steep
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is fully compositional: 'mansard' denotes a specific kind of roof and 'roof' is the general category, so 'mansard roof' directly means a roof of that type. The noun+noun type specification is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand the phrase.
Etymology
Mansard roof gets its name from the French architect Mansart, who used a roof with 'two slopes' on each side. The lower slope is steep and the upper slope is flatter, so the attic has more room and can be used as living space. That's why a mansard roof means this special roof shape that creates extra rooms under the roof.