Galleries

How to spell galleries

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce galleries

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does galleries mean?

1. nounRooms or buildings where works of art are displayed, often for public viewing or sale.
2. nounThe highest tiers of balcony seating in a theatre or concert hall.

Galleries in a sentence

• The city funds three public galleries that admit visitors for free.

• The cheapest tickets put us in the upper galleries far above the stage.

• On our trip we spent two afternoons touring the riverside galleries.

• The old opera house has two ornate galleries rising above the stalls.

Where does galleries come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the plural of gallery, which entered English in the 1400s from the Old French galerie, meaning a long covered walkway or porch. The French form drew on the Medieval Latin galeria, a word of uncertain origin that some link to the Latin galilaea, a name for an entrance porch in a church. Originally a gallery was simply a covered passage where people could stroll, and only later did the sense narrow to a long room where pictures and sculptures were displayed. The same root gave us the raised balcony seating in a theatre and, by extension, the figurative phrase about playing to the gallery. Note the double l and the single r, then the regular -y to -ies plural ending, which together form the spelling that trips writers who expect a single l or an -ys.

How the word is built

• galler- (from gallery, a long covered walk or hall)
• -ies (plural of nouns ending in -y)