What Is the Meaning of Pilaster?

Types

• Like columns, pilasters can have different styles. The two most common styles are fluted pilasters and paneled pilasters.

Function

• Pilasters are usually used for decorative purposes near doorways or spaced out along a wall. Sometimes, however, pilasters are load-bearing, functional pieces of masonry that buttresses lateral loads on the wall or roof loads from above.

Furniture

• Though true pilasters are found on walls, the word is also used to describe the column-like elements built into (or on top of) bookcases and other pieces of furniture for ornamental purposes.

Etymology

• According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, pilaster came into usage in English around 1575 from the French word "pilastre." The word came originally from Latin, from "pila," which means "buttress" and "-aster," a suffix meaning "incomplete resemblance."

Lesene

• A lesene, or a "pilaster strip" as it is sometimes known, is also flat, rectangular and only slightly projecting from the wall. Unlike a pilaster, however, a lesene does not have a plinth or capital.