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circular

Etymology and origin of the English word circular

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1370
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman circuler
Ultimate origin
Late Latin (circularis)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈsɜː.kjə.lə/, US /ˈsɝː.kjə.lɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman circuler, Old French circulier (modern circulaire),[2][3][4] a learned borrowing of Late Latin circulāris, from circulus, small ring (see circle).[2][3][5] The spelling circular, first recorded in the late 1500s, imitates the Latin.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Round, having the form of a circle: 1370, in Chaucer's Boethius,[2] the late 14th century in Etymonline, 1430 in the OED.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Moving in a circle is from about 1450,[6] and of reasoning, arguing in a circle, a later sense.[7][8] A circular letter, one addressed to a circle of people, is from the 1650s, and the noun circular, a notice sent to many people, from 1818.[3][2] A circular tour, ending where it began, is from 1860.[6] The noun, a circular figure, is from 1560.[2] Circularity is from 1582 and circularize from 1799.[2]

Timeline

  • 1370 – round.[2]
  • c. 1450 – moving in a circle.[6]
  • 1560 – a circular figure (noun).[2]
  • 1650s – circular letter.[3]
  • 1818 – a circular, a notice.[2][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Shaped like a circle; round.
  2. Moving in or forming a circle; ending where it began.
  3. Of reasoning, using as evidence what it sets out to prove.
  4. Roundabout; indirect.

Noun

  1. A printed letter or advertisement sent to many people.

Word family

  • circularity
  • circularly
  • circularness
  • circularise
  • circularize
  • noncircular
  • subcircular
  • uncircular

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Circular.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/circular. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·