Standard Lemma guide

keelson

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • CMU ARPABET: K EH1 L S AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A longitudinal beam fastened on top of the keel of a vessel for strength and stiffness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: nautical, transport

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a longitudinal beam connected to the keel of ship to strengthen it

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: beam

History

Etymology

Late Middle English kelswayn, from Low German kielswîn, kielswīn, from kiel (“keel of a ship”) (from Old Norse kjǫlr) + swin (“swine”), used as the name of a timber (however, compare sill). Compare with Dutch kolzwijn, kolsem, Low German, kielswîn, German Kielschwein, Danish kølsvin, kölsvin, all with the same meaning.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: carlinga — keel beam
  • Danish: kølsvin — keel beam
  • Dutch: weger — keel beam
  • Finnish: sikopalkki — keel beam
  • Finnish: kelsi — keel beam
  • French: carlingue — keel beam
  • German: Kielschwein — keel beam
  • Hebrew: שִׁדְרוֹן (shidron) — keel beam
  • Italian: falsachiglia — keel beam
  • Norman: tchèrlîngue — keel beam
  • Polish: nadstępka — keel beam
  • Polish: kilson — keel beam
  • Portuguese: sobrequilha — keel beam
  • Russian: кильсо́н (kilʹsón) — keel beam
  • Spanish: sobrequilla — keel beam
  • Swedish: kölsvin — keel beam
  • Welsh: celsan — keel beam
Real reading context

keelson in complete knowledge articles