- terrace (n.)
- 1510s, "gallery, portico, balcony," later "flat, raised place for walking" (1570s), from Middle French terrace, from Old French terrasse "platform (built on or supported by a mound of earth)," from Vulgar Latin *terracea, fem. of *terraceus "earthen, earthy," from Latin terra "earth, land" (see terrain). As a natural formation in geology, attested from 1670s.