circuit

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈsɜː.kɪt/, US /ˈsɝː.kɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English circuyt, borrowed from Old French circuit (“a circuit, a journey around”),^[2][3] from Latin circuitus (“a going around”),^[2][3] from circuīre, circumīre “to go around”,^[2][3] formed from circum “around” and īre “to go”,^[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *ei- (“to go”).^[2] It is related to exit and circum-.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The line described in going round an area, a circumference: 1382 in the OED and Barnhart, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

A roundabout course or detour is from 1413,^[5] and the space enclosed within limits from about 1400 (1483 in the OED).^[2][5] A district in which periodic journeys are made, especially by judges, is from the 1570s,^[2][6] and the route of travelling entertainers from 1834.^[2] A circuit rider was a Methodist preacher riding a circuit (by 1834).^[2][3] The electrical sense, the path of a current, is from 1746,^[2][3] and a circuit breaker from 1872 or 1874.^[3][2] A road for motor racing is from 1935.^[5] Circuitry is from 1946.^[3]

Timeline

• 1382 – a circumference.^[5][3]
• 1413 – a detour.^[5]
• 1570s – a judge's circuit.^[2]
• 1746 – an electrical circuit.^[2][3]
• 1834 – an entertainers' circuit.^[2]
• 1935 – a racing circuit.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The complete path along which an electric current flows.
2. A route or track that goes around and ends where it started, especially one for motor racing.
3. A regular journey from place to place, made by a judge, preacher or performer, or the area covered.
4. A series of events or places at which the same people perform or compete: the tennis circuit.

Verb

1. To go around something.

Word family

• circuital
• circuiter
• circuitous
• circuitry
• circuity
• closed-circuit
• microcircuit
• multicircuit

Related words

• circum-
• exit

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press