English
circle
Circle comes from Old French cercle ‘circle (shape)’, and goes back to Latin circus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircus‘circle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcirculusdiminutive of circus
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400cercle‘circle’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500circle
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600circle
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircus‘circle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcirculusdiminutive of circus
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400cercle‘circle’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500circle
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600circle
Earliest quotation: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “in the circle of this forest”.
Equivalent to circus + -ule
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’
short, across, share, card, cross, cancer, screen, score, shirt, curve, scare, crucial, carnival, curb, scar, cancellation, scrutiny, shrine, skirt, crest, corona, shear, scorpion, shred, carnage, incarceration, corolla, scorn, shrewd, crux, shard, carnal, raffle, riddance, crepe, carnivorous, corgi, carcinoma, ruck, shrew, 112 more
through Latin circus ‘circle, circus’
circuit, circus, circa, cirque, 14 more
through Latin circulus
Today it means
noun A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from a given point (center).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin circus / circle