A carved stone creature, often grotesque or frightening, placed on buildings (especially churches) to ward off evil or direct water away.
From Old French 'gargouille' (throat), derived from 'gargouille' (waterspout), likely imitating a gurgling sound. The name originally referred to the spout itself before referring to the sculptured form.
Medieval builders weren't just being decorative—gargoyles served a real engineering purpose channeling rainwater away from mortar through the creature's mouth, so they combined superstition (warding evil) with genius architecture, making monsters that were also functional plumbing.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.