murar

Murar is a verb in Spanish and Portuguese that means to enclose with a wall or to seal off an area by constructing a wall. It is used in architectural, construction, and historical contexts to describe the act of walling up or restricting access, such as murar una celda or murar una abertura in a fortification.

Etymology and related terms: murar derives from the Latin murus, meaning wall. It is cognate with words in other Romance languages that share the same semantic core. Related nouns include muro (wall) and muralla (great wall or town wall).

Usage and contexts: in technical or formal descriptions of buildings, fortifications, or urban planning, murar refers to physically erecting a wall or closing off a space. It can also appear in historical narratives about walls and sieges. In a figurative sense, the verb can designate isolating or enclosing someone or something, though this figurative usage is less common in everyday speech.

Cross-linguistic note: in Portuguese, murar is also used with the same broad sense of walling up or enclosing. Regular conjugation applies as an -ar verb, aligning with standard patterns for that language.

See also: muro, muralla, tapiar, cercar.