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Minaret vs Spire - What's the difference?

minaret | spire |

As nouns the difference between minaret and spire

is that minaret is the tall slender tower of an Islamic mosque, from which the muezzin recites the adhan (call to prayer while spire is the stalk or stem of a plant.

As a verb spire is

of a seed, plant etc.: to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate.

minaret

English

(wikipedia minaret)

Noun

(en noun)
  • the tall slender tower of an Islamic mosque, from which the muezzin recites the adhan (call to prayer)
  • * 2005 , Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Pashazade , page 37, paragraph 2
    • And in the background of the picture, just out of focus behind the man, was a soaring minaret outlined against a shockingly blue sky.

    Anagrams

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    spire

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch spier, German Spier, (Spiere), Danish spir, Norwegian spir, Swedish spira.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A young shoot of a plant; a spear.
  • * 1913 ,
    • Clara had pulled a button from a hollyhock spire , and was breaking it to get the seeds.
  • A sharp or tapering point.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1907, author=
    • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=1 citation , passage=A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.}}
  • A tapering structure built on a roof or tower, especially as one of the central architectural features of a church or cathedral roof.
    • The spire of the church rose high above the town.
  • The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
  • * Shakespeare
    • the spire and top of praises
  • (mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the charge in blasting.

    • Verb

    (spir)
  • Of a seed, plant etc.: to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.5:
    • In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race / Of woman kind it fayrest Flowre doth spyre , / And beareth fruit of honour and all chast desyre.
  • * Mortimer
    • It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms.
  • To grow upwards rather than develop horizontally.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) spirer, and its source, (etyl) .

    Verb

    (spir)
  • (obsolete) To breathe.
    • (Shenstone)

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) spire.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of the sinuous foldings of a serpent or other reptile; a coil.
  • A spiral.
    • (Dryden)
  • (geometry) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole.

    • Anagrams

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