Where does “career” come from?
Career comes from French carrière, from Italian carriera, from Old Occitan carreira, from Latin carrus meaning wagon, ultimately related to Latin quattuor and Latin caput.
career (English): One's calling in life; a person's occupation;...
Definitions
- One's calling in life; a person's occupation;...
Ancestry of “career”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | carrière | racecourse; career; quarry |
| 2 | Old French | quarrière | — |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | quadraria | — |
| 4 | Latin | quadrō | to make four-cornered, square, make square |
| 5 | Latin | quādrus | square |
| 6 | Latin | quattŭor | four; 4 |
| 7 | Portuguese | quarto | ordinal form of quatro; fourth; quarter; fourth;... |
| 8 | Old Portuguese | quarto | quarter |
| 9 | Latin | quārtus | fourth |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷeturtos | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷetwóres | four |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷe- | and |