newel

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnjuː.əl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnu.əl/, /ˈnju.əl/

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Ornamented newel at the foot of a staircase.

From Anglo-Norman nuel, Middle French nuel, of uncertain origin.

newel (plural newels)

1. (architecture) A central pillar around which a staircase spirals.
2. (architecture) A sturdy pillar at the top or bottom of a flight of stairs, supporting the handrail.
   • 1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin 2005, p. 238:

     We went along the hall to the end and up a flight of stairs with a carved handrail and newel post.

• (central pillar of a staircase spiral): spindle

From new +‎ -el, modelled after novel (“new, original”).

newel (plural newels)

1. (obsolete) A novelty; a new thing.
   • 1882: Edmund Spenser (Alexander Balloch Grosart, ed) The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of Edmund Spenser

     He was so enamoured with the newel.