mansard means having two slopes on each side, the lower being steeper than the upper. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 81 out of 100.
Why “mansard” is a great word
MANSARD — [Adjective, Noun] A roof with a double slope on each side, the lower far steeper than the upper, and the attic storey it encloses. Borrowed from French mansarde, named for the 17th-century French architect François Mansart, who popularized the design. Unlike the rustic gambrel, with its barn-born symmetry, or the genteel hipped roof, with its uniform pitch, the mansard is an urbane contrivance of elegant economy. It is the Parisian silhouette against a pigeon-grey sky, the slate-clad crown of a Haussmannian boulevard, and the architectural sleight-of-hand that carves a full, habitable floor from the empty air—a testament to the civilized art of hiding disorder behind a harmonious line.
adj
- having two slopes on each side, the lower being steeper than the upper
noun
- A mansard roof
- The upper storey of a building, surrounded by such a roof