murée

Murée is the feminine past participle of the French verb murer, meaning to wall up or seal off with a wall. As an adjective, murée denotes something enclosed by walls or blocked off. The masculine form is muré. The term is commonly used in architectural, historical, and archaeological descriptions to designate spaces that are surrounded or closed by masonry, such as une cour murée, a walled courtyard, or une porte murée, a door that has been bricked up.

The term can also describe objects that have been sealed for protection or preservation, for example une fenêtre murée (a bricked-up window) or une cellule murée (a sealed cell).

Etymology: murée is derived from the verb murer, which itself comes from the noun mur (wall); the participle agrees in gender with the noun it modifies.

In modern use, murée appears mostly in formal or descriptive contexts, including architectural inventories, historical reports, and literary descriptions of fortifications or enclosed space. It is less common in everyday speech, where phrases like fermé par un mur may be used instead.

Related terms include mur (wall), muraille (a bigger wall or rampart), and murer (to wall up). Murée is primarily a descriptive architectural term and may also appear in historical or artistic descriptions of enclosed or sealed spaces.