voussoir means one of a series of wedge-shaped bricks or stones forming an arch or vault. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
voussoir is pronounced /vuˈswɑːr/.
Why “voussoir” is a great word
VOUSSOIR — [Noun] A wedge-shaped stone or brick that is one of the units forming an arch or vault. From the French voussoir, from Old French vosoir, from Vulgar Latin *volsorium, from *volsus, from Latin volvō ("to roll"), its name carries the ghost of a turning motion, a fragment of a revolution captured in stone. Unlike "keystone"—which denotes only the singular, crowning piece—or "lintel"—a solitary, stoic beam bearing its load directly—a voussoir is an anonymous disciple of mutual support, deriving its power solely from geometry and neighborly compression. It is the cool, precise weight in the mason's hand; the tapered shadow cast on the curve of a bridge; and the uncounted granite wedge that has not moved in eight centuries—each a quiet conspirator in turning a crush of downward force into an elegant, outward thrust. The arch is a lie told in stone, and the voussoir is its most eloquent, dependent word.
noun
- One of a series of wedge-shaped bricks or stones forming an arch or vault.“It is the voussoir depth in a real arch which enables the arch to carry wider ranges of loading; a large number of different idealized centre-line arches can be contained within a given practical profile. ...[T]his must be so, or no mediaeval bridge would have survived its decentering.”