A grille or grill (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

word from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''craticula'', small grill) is an opening of several slits side-by-side in a wall, metal sheet or another barrier, usually to allow air or water to enter and/or leave and prevent larger objects (such as

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

) from going in or out. A similar definition is "a French term for an enclosure in either iron or bronze."

Register vs. grille

In heating, cooling, ventilation, or a combination thereof, a grille is a

perforated A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...

cover for an

air duct Ducts are conduits or passages used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to deliver and remove air. The needed airflows include, for example, ''supply air'', ''return air'', and ''exhaust air''. Ducts commonly also deliver '' ...

. Grilles sometimes have

louver A louver (American English) or louvre (British English; see spelling differences) is a window blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain and direct sunshine. The angle of the slats ...

s which allow the flow of air to be directed. A register differs from a grille in that a damper is included. However, in practice, the terms "grille", "register", and "return" are often used interchangeably, and care must be taken to determine the meaning of the term used.

Grillwork

Grillwork is decorative grating of

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typi ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of ligni ...

, stone, or other

material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

used as a screen, divider, barrier, or as a purely decorative element. It may function as a window, either with or without glazing. Grillwork may also refer to grilles, decorative front ends of motor vehicles. Grillwork is sometimes referred to as simply as a ''grill'' or as ''grille'', but the latter terms do not convey a decorative quality. These words are all derived from the

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligi ...

. Other terms are used to refer to such decorative work. If the screen is made from iron, the term ironwork is often used. The term in Spanish, ''reja'' can also refer to metal fences. If the screen is made from cutouts of wood, the term fretwork is also used. File:Summer Garden grille.jpg, The 18th-century fence of

Summer Garden The Summer Garden (russian: Ле́тний сад, ''Letniy sad'') is a historic public garden that occupies an eponymous island between the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia and shares its nam ...

in St. Petersburg is a recurring subject in Russian poetry and art. Image:Spanish 17th century wrought iron and bronze grillwork by Francisco Gonzales, Spanish, Metropolitan Museum of Art.JPG, Spanish 17th century wrought iron and bronze grillwork by Francisco Gonzales,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

Image:Early 20th century American grillwork, anonamous, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg, Early 20th-century American grillwork, anonymous, Honolulu Museum of Art Image:Architectural stone Grillwork from a house in northern India, Rajput Dynasty, 17th-18th century, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg, Architectural stone grillwork from a house in northern

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, Rajput Dynasty, 17th-18th century, Honolulu Museum of Art File:Entrance to Marin County Center, 1963.jpg, Marin County, California, Civic Center, 1963.

References

{{Authority control Architectural elements

Register vs. grille

Grillwork

See also

References