Poklop is a Czech word I came across today which means trapdoor or hatch. I’m not sure of its etymology, but I just like the sound of this word.
An alternative word for the same thing is padací dveře (lit. “falling door”). Related words include padací most drawbridge, (lit. “falling bridge”) and padací mříž portculis, (lit. “falling bar/grating/grid”).
This reminds me of the slang Russian word поклёп = libel
The etymology: the noun “poklop” is derived from the verb “poklopit”, a perfective form of “klopit” = to tilt (proto-Slavic klopiti), which is said to be of onomatopoeic origin by the etymological dictionary that I have. By the way, “poklop” and “padací dveře” are not perfectly synonymous – “padací dveře” has to have hinges and shall be used as a closure of some vertical passage, “poklop” on the other hand is more general and can be used also instead of the word “víko” = lid. Hearing “poklop”, my first association is usually is “poklop od kanálu” = sewer cover, however in this context neither “padací dveře” nor “víko” can be used as synonyms.
Hi there,
I’m now studying in Czech Republic,
therefore I have to learn some Czech here.
I’ve learned some Spanish(probably 2 weeks by a friend), but not knowing it quite well.
So do they have some common place??
…to expand on the word poklop….very nicely explained by PRASE….etymologically close is the word POKLOPEC, meaning the fly, a part of men’s pants….the users of Czech as foreign langugae should be very careful to make a distinction between these two expressions….the only thing these two words have in common is that they try to cover somenthing that should not be seen too much in public….!!…..