# Looking for a specific word **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2018, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684 "2018-01-01T11:14:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/1 "2018-01-01T11:14:11Z")
I’m playing an online game with a chat window. There’s a brief real-world discussion. Somebody posts a word I’ve never heard of. 😕 I look it up - and it’s a real word. 🆒 Then stuff happens - and now I can’t remember the word. ☹ So over to you Dopers! Your clues are: - this word defines an outdoor structure - the word has several syllables - it’s obviously from a classical language (probably Latin, maybe Greek) - we were discussing pergolas, gazebos etc. - its meaning is **something like** an area enclosed by columns - there’s a shorter version of the word (no prefix) which is a version of the structure I’d really like to discover this word, as one of my mates likes quoting Latin and he’d enjoy hearing it… ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/2 "2018-01-01T11:33:52Z")
a **peristyle** perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/3 "2018-01-01T11:41:52Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > a **peristyle** perhaps? Good effort, that man. 🙂 Sadly my word is longer (by a syllable or two) and more … Latin-like. I have a vague memory of something like ‘ull’ being part of it… ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/4 "2018-01-01T11:54:01Z")
I would have gone for tetrastoon, but that does not quite fit your description either. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/5 "2018-01-01T12:22:57Z")
Colonnade? Portico? Not sure if they fit your clues. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/6 "2018-01-01T12:55:33Z")
nm. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/7 "2018-01-01T13:59:49Z")
Going at this from a completely different direction: Is it possible that your game saves the chat log? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/8 "2018-01-01T17:03:12Z")
If it’s a gazebo, [don’t shoot an arrow at it.](http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/Jul/gazebo.html) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/9 "2018-01-01T17:30:10Z")
[Peripteros](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripteros) ? [Tetrastoon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peristyle) ? [Belvedere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvedere_(structure)) ? ---
**Author:** ![BlueMerle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@BlueMerle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMerle)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/10 "2018-01-01T17:46:10Z")
Propylaeum? ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/11 "2018-01-01T17:51:11Z")
From one of Peter Morris’s links, another possibility: [Peristasis?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peristasis_(architecture)) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/12 "2018-01-01T18:04:17Z")
Chalcidicum ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/13 "2018-01-01T19:11:08Z")
I really appreciate these efforts (and I’m sorry I don’t have better clues.) The word was several syllables and sounded very ‘classical’. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/14 "2018-01-01T19:57:02Z")
Just throwing words out: balustrade mezzanine piazza veranda loggia stoa ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/15 "2018-01-01T20:24:13Z")
“Vestibule” meets your some of your requirements but the meaning isn’t correct. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/16 "2018-01-02T04:22:37Z")
[Tetrapylon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapylon) or in Latin _quadrifrons_? Or maybe a tetraporticus. There’s also the _tetrakionion_. The Persian form is a [chahartaq](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chahartaq_(architecture)). ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/17 "2018-01-02T04:41:14Z")
Intercolumniation? Entablature? Displuviatum? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/18 "2018-01-02T04:42:46Z")
Palladium I know it is a chemical element, but there is the Hollywood Palladium that could be the reason the word is associated with a structure. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/19 "2018-01-02T04:51:21Z")
Anteproscenium, with proscenium being the shorter version. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684/20 "2018-01-02T05:06:34Z")
I swear that this thread was a Monty Python skit… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-specific-word/805684.md?page=2)