The Word of the Day comes from "Breasts and Eggs" by Mieko Kawakami. It is shortlisted for the 2021 Tournament of Books.
LUNETTE
A lunette is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs.
noun noun: lunette; plural noun: lunettes
1. an arched aperture or window, especially one in a domed ceiling. a crescent-shaped or semicircular alcove containing something such as a painting or statue.
2.
a fortification with two faces forming a projecting angle, and two flanks.
3.
CHRISTIAN CHURCH
a holder for the consecrated host in a monstrance.
4.
a broad, shallow, typically crescent-shaped mound of wind-blown material along the leeward side of a lake or dry lake basin.
5. a ring fixed to a vehicle, by which it can be towed.
ORIGIN
late 16th century (denoting a semicircular horseshoe): from French, diminutive of lune ‘moon’, from Latin luna .