"C" Word Origins

Circe

Latin

Borrowed from Latin Circē.

circle

Latin

From Old French cercle and Latin circulus, a diminutive of circus ("ring"), itself from Greek kirkos.

circuit

Latin

From Old French circuit, from Latin circuitus, "a going around" — from circum ("around") plus ire ("to go").

circuitous

Origin

First attested in 1664. From Latin circuitōsus, from circuitus, from circumeō (“to go around”), from circum (“around”) + eō (“to go”). By surface analysis, circuit + -ous.

circuitry

Origin

Formed from "circuit" plus the suffix "-ry", meaning a system or collection of circuits.

circular

Late Latin

From Old French circulier, from Late Latin circularis, from Latin circulus ("small circle").

circularise

Origin

From circular + -ise.

circulate

Late Latin

From Late Latin circulatus, past participle of circulare ("to make circular, encircle"), from circulus ("a circle").

circulation

Latin

From Latin circulatio, built from circulare ("to circulate") plus the noun suffix "-ion".

circulative

Origin

From circulate + -ive.

circulatory

Latin

From French circulatoire, from Latin circulatorius.

circumcise

Origin

From Middle English circumcisen, from Old French circumciser (modern French circoncire) and its etymon Latin circumcīsus, the past participle of circumcīdō (“cut around”), from circum (“about, around; through”) + caedō (“cut, hew”).

circumcision

Latin

From Old French circumcisiun, from Latin circumcisio, from circumcidere ("to cut around") — circum ("around") plus caedere ("to cut").

circumference

Latin

From Latin circumferentia, from circum ("around") plus ferre ("to carry").

circumscribe

Origin

From Latin circumscrībō, from circum (“around”) + scrībō (“write”). By surface analysis, circum- + scribe.

circumspect

Origin

From Latin circumspectō (“look around”). Compare periscope.

circumspection

Origin

Inherited from Middle English circumspeccioun, from Middle French circonspection or its etymon Latin circumspectio. By surface analysis, circum- + Latin spect + -ion, "looking [all] around" (as compared with the opposite concept, embodied as tunnel vision or blinders).

circumstance

Latin

From Old French circonstance, from Latin circumstantia — literally "a standing around", from circum ("around") plus stare ("to stand").

circumstantial

Latin

From Latin circumstantia ("circumstance") plus the adjective suffix "-al".

circumvent

Latin

From Latin circumvenire, "to come around" — circum ("around") plus venire ("to come").

circumvention

Origin

From Latin circumventio, equivalent to circumvent + -ion.

circumvolve

Origin

From Latin circumvolvere.

circus

Latin

From Latin circus ("ring, circle"), ultimately from Greek kirkos — the same root gives us "cirque".

cirque

Latin

Borrowed from French cirque, from Latin circus ("circle, ring") — a doublet of the English word "circus".

cirrhosis

Greek

From Greek kirrhos ("tawny", describing the diseased liver's colour) plus the medical suffix "-osis".

cirriped

Origin

Borrowed from translingual Cirripedia. By surface analysis, cirri- + -ped. Doublet of cirripede.

cirrostratus

Origin

From cirro- + stratus, coined by the British chemist and amateur meteorologist Luke Howard (1772–1864): see the 1803 quotation.

cis

Latin

From Latin cis, "on this side of" — the opposite of "trans", "across" or "on the other side".

cis male

Latin

From the Latin prefix cis- 'on this side of', the counterpart of trans- 'across, on the other side of', borrowed from its established use in chemistry and geography.

cis man

Latin

From the Latin prefix cis- 'on this side of', the opposite of trans- 'across', applied to gender by analogy with its long-standing use in chemistry.

cis woman

Latin

From the Latin prefix cis- 'on this side of', paired against trans- 'across, on the other side of'.

cisatlantic

Origin

From cis- (“on this side”) + Atlantic.

cisco

French

From French ciscoette, borrowed from the Ojibwe word siscowet.

cisgender

Latin

From the Latin prefix cis- meaning on this side of, formed as the counterpart to trans- meaning across, plus gender.

cissy

Origin

Formed from "cis(gender)" plus "-y", playing on the older, unrelated word "sissy".

cistern

Latin

From Old French cisterne, from Latin cisterna, from cista ("box"), from Greek kiste.

cisterna

Origin

From Latin cisterna. Doublet of cistern.

cistron

Origin

Coined by American molecular biologist Seymour Benzer in 1957, from cis + trans + -on. Named in the context of using a "cis-trans comparison" for identifying " […] whether two mutants, having similar defects, are indeed defective in the same way."

citadel

Latin

From French citadelle, from Italian cittadella, a diminutive of città ("city"), from Latin civitas.

citation

Latin

From Old French citation, from Latin citatio, built from citare ("to summon" or "to cite").

cite

Latin

From Old French citer, from Latin citare ("to summon, to call"), a frequentative of ciere ("to rouse, to call").

citerior

Origin

Borrowed from Latin citerior (“(particularly in province names) nearer”), comparative of citer (“on this side; near”) (from cis (“on or to this or the near side of; short of; before”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe (“here”)) + -ior (suffix forming comparatives). The English word is cognate with French citérieur, Italian citeriore, Portuguese and Spanish citerior.

citizen

Latin

From Anglo-Norman citesain, from Old French cite ("city") plus a suffix meaning "one who belongs to" — ultimately from Latin civitas.

citizenship

Origin

Formed from "citizen" plus "-ship", the suffix indicating a state or condition.

citrous

Origin

From citrus + -ous.

citrus

Latin

From Latin citrus, likely borrowed via Etruscan from Greek kedros ("cedar") — possibly making "citrus" and "cedar" distant relatives.

city

Late Latin

From Old French cite, from Late Latin civitatem ("citizenry, community"), from Latin civis ("citizen").

citywide

Origin

From "city" plus "-wide", following the same pattern as "worldwide" or "nationwide".