The word Nacelle is derived from the Old French nacele, which means a small boat or dinghy, and was in turn derived from the Latin navicella. The term is commonly used in the worlds of aviation, nautical and spacecraft design, in order to refer to a covered housing, separate from the fuselage, which usually holds engines, fuel, or equipment. In some cases—most notably the WW2-era P-38 Lightning airplane—the cockpit may also be housed in a nacelle. The covering is typically shaped in an aerodynamic manner.
In the world of ballooning, including that of airships, the nacelle is a suspended basket which contains machinery and passengers.
