Mural

How to spell mural

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mural

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mural mean?

1. nounA large painting or artwork applied directly to a wall or ceiling.

Mural in a sentence

• A vibrant mural covered the entire side of the community centre.

• Local artists painted a mural depicting the town's history.

Where does mural come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Mural comes from the Latin muralis, meaning 'belonging to a wall', which was built on the noun murus, the ordinary Latin word for a wall. In its earliest English use it was purely an adjective, describing anything fixed to or connected with a wall, as in a mural tablet or a mural arch. English borrowed it through French during the 1500s, keeping the Latin sense of 'on the wall'. Over time the phrase 'mural painting' was shortened, and by the nineteenth century the single word mural had become a noun for the painting itself. The same murus root survives in 'immure', meaning to wall someone in, and 'intramural', literally 'within the walls', which is a handy reminder that the spelling keeps the simple 'mur' of the original wall.

How the word is built

• mur (from Latin murus: wall)
• -al (adjective/noun suffix)