circus
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See also: Circus
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin circus (“ring, circle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-, *ker- (“to turn, to bend”).[1][2] Doublet of cirque. Displaced native Old English hringsetl (literally “ring seat”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (US) (file) - (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɜːkəs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɝkəs/
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kəs
Noun[edit]
circus (plural circuses or (rare) circusses or (rare) circi)
- A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. [from late 18th c.]
- The circus will be in town next week.
- A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.
- Oxford Circus in London is at the north end of Regent Street.
- (figurative) A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.
- 2009, Christine Brooks, A Quiet Village, page 81:
- The village would be turned into a circus over this. He groaned, it was just the sort of case the media had a field day over. He had to get the whole thing sorted fast before anyone got wind of it.
- (historical) In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.
- (military, World War II) A code name for bomber attacks with fighter escorts in the day time. The attacks were against short-range targets with the intention of occupying enemy fighters and keeping their fighter units in the area concerned.
- (obsolete) Circuit; space; enclosure.
- 1817, Lord Byron, The Lament of Tasso:
- The narrow circus of my dungeon wall.
Coordinate terms[edit]
- (open space): concourse
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
company that travels
|
round open space
Verb[edit]
circus (third-person singular simple present circuses or circusses, present participle circusing or circussing, simple past and past participle circused or circussed)
References[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
circus n (plural circussen, diminutive circusje n)
- circus (company of performers; place where this company performs)
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
See also[edit]
Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Likely borrowed from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos), κίρκος (kírkos, “ring”),[1] from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈkir.kus/, [ˈkɪrkʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃir.kus/, [ˈt͡ʃirkus]
Noun[edit]
circus m (genitive circī); second declension
- a circular line or orbit; circle, ring
- a racecourse or space where games are held, especially one that is round
- the spectators in a circus; a circus
Declension[edit]
Second-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | circus | circī |
Genitive | circī | circōrum |
Dative | circō | circīs |
Accusative | circum | circōs |
Ablative | circō | circīs |
Vocative | circe | circī |
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
Learned borrowings:
- Asturian: circu
- Catalan: circ
- Dutch: circus (see there for further descendants)
- English: circus
- French: cirque (see there for further descendants)
- Friulian: circ
- Galician: circo
- German: Circus, Zirkus (see there for further descendants)
- Italian: circo
- Occitan: circ
- Polish: cyrk
- Portuguese: circo
- Romanian: circ
- Spanish: circo
References[edit]
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “cĭrcus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, page 708
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “circus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 115
Further reading[edit]
- “circus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “circus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- circus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- “circus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “circus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker- (turn)
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English terms with audio links
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)kəs
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)kəs/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with historical senses
- en:Military
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- en:Circus
- en:Theater
- Dutch terms borrowed from Latin
- Dutch terms derived from Latin
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch neuter nouns
- Latin terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- Latin 2-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin second declension nouns
- Latin masculine nouns in the second declension
- Latin masculine nouns
- la:Shapes
- la:Sports