English
circa
Circa comes from Latin circā ‘around’, and goes back to circus ‘a circular line or orbit’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircus‘a circular line or orbit’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircum‘about, around’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircā‘around’
- Englishearliest quotation 2011circa
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircus‘a circular line or orbit’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircum‘about, around’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircā‘around’
- Englishearliest quotation 2011circa
Earliest quotation: 2011, Michael Crowley, Decision Time for Senator John Thune: “Political talent scouts have called South Dakota's John Thune…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’
short, across, share, cross, screen, score, card, cancer, shirt, curve, crucial, curb, scare, scrutiny, shrine, skirt, crest, carnival, cancellation, scar, corona, shear, scorpion, shred, raffle, corolla, scorn, shrewd, carnage, incarceration, crux, shard, riddance, crepe, corgi, ruck, shrew, chancel, scurvy, carnal, 112 more
through Latin circus ‘a circular line or orbit’
circle, circulation, circus, circulate, cirque, circulatory, 14 more
through Latin circum ‘about, around’
Today it means
prep Synonym of around, about, approximately, particularly used with historical dating.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin circus / circa