Etymologically
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circuit

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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

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