Where does “circle” come from?
circle (Middle English) comes from Old French cercle, from Latin circulus, from Latin -ulus, from Proto-Italic -olos, from Proto-Italic -elos, from Proto-Indo-European -e-lós, from Proto-Indo-European -lós — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
Ancestry of “circle”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | cercle | circle |
| 2 | Latin | circulus | circle; An orbit; A ring, hoop |
| 3 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -elos | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |
Words derived from “circle”