donjon
noun/ˈdʌn.d͡ʒən/
Etymology A variant of dungeon remodelled on its etymon, Old French donjon.
1
The fortified tower and main residence of a motte or early castle; a keep.
- It was a fortress of no great size, consisting of a donjon, or large and high square tower, surrounded by buildings of inferior height, which were encircled by an inner court-yard.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 106:
- […] the prison fortress called Qomr, a mound of yellowish brick rising up from the left back of the turbid river, in whose donjon by long tradition the warlord was obliged to lay his head.2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 132:
- Related terms
- dungeon