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carril

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word carril

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1303 Becerro de visitaciones de casas y heredades More words from the 14th century
Inherited from
Latin *carrilis via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Gaulish *karros

Pronunciation

  • /kaˈril/, [kaˈril][1]

Forms

carril m (plural carriles)[1] DEMel lists the spelling caril in a charter of 1210.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish carril, inherited from Vulgar Latin *carrīlis (“of a cart”), used as a neuter noun, *carrile.[3][1] This was an alteration of Late Latin currīlis (“of chariots”) under the influence of carrus (“wagon”).[1][3][4] The adjective at first qualified a road, and later became a noun.[4] The BDELC and García de Diego treat it as a derivative of carro.[5][6]

The same word is Portuguese carril, first recorded in 1142, Galician carril and Catalan carril.[7][8][1] The Latin word is Gaulish, and Wiktionary derives it from Gaulish *karros, from Proto-Celtic *karros (“wagon”).[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the Becerro de visitaciones de casas y heredades (after 1303), which describes a field whose border reaches al carril, a cart track.[10] DEMel has earlier records in a charter of 1210 (caril) and in Leonese documents of 1222.[2] The BDELC dates it only c. 1400.[5]

Semantic evolution

In 14th- and 15th-century charters the carril is a cart track used as a boundary.[10] In the 15th century it also meant a wheel rut, a road fit only for a cart, and, figuratively, a course of life, as in the Cancionero de Baena.[11] Nebrija equates it with Latin orbita, and Covarrubias derived exorbitancia from that word.[12][13] Autoridades (1729) gives the rut and the narrow road, and says that the word once meant the cart itself, quoting the proverb Un agua en mayo y tres de abril valen más que los bueyes y el carril.[14] The Academy read that proverb as showing the sense “furrow” from 1817.[15]

With the railway the Academy added in 1884 the iron bars on which locomotives and wagons run.[16] The 20th century brought the lane of a road and of a running track or swimming pool, the latter used in much of Latin America.[3][17] In Chile and Puerto Rico carril has also meant the train itself.[18][19]

Timeline

  • 1210 – DEMel's first record, in the spelling caril.[2]
  • 1222 – Leonese documents have carril.[2]
  • after 1303 – the Becerro de visitaciones has carril for a cart track.[10]
  • c. 1406–1445 – the Cancionero de Baena uses carryles figuratively.[11]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses carril de carreta with Latin orbita.[12]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as the track left by the wheels.[13]
  • 1632 – the camino carril in Nueva Vizcaya, Mexico.[20]
  • 1729 – Autoridades records the old sense “cart”.[14]
  • 1884 – the Academy adds the railway rail.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A rut, the track left on the ground by the wheels of a vehicle.[3]
  2. A furrow made by a plough.[3]
  3. A road only wide enough for a cart.[3]
  4. A rail of a railway or tramway.[3][1]
  5. A groove or track along which something slides, as in a sliding door.[3]
  6. A lane of a road, for a single line of vehicles: Circulaba por el carril de la izquierda.[3][1]
  7. (Costa Rica) A ladder in a knitted fabric.[3]
  8. (Latin America) A lane in athletics or swimming.[3][17]

Word family

  • carrilada
  • carrilero
  • descarrilar
  • encarrilar
  • ferrocarril
  • autocarril

Usage notes

Compounds include carril bus and carril bici, and carril de aceleración is the lane that lets vehicles joining a road speed up.[1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. carril
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. carril
  4. ^ a b Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. carril
  5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. carro
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. carrus
  7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. carril
  8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. carril
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. carrus
  10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. carril
  11. ^ a b Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 637
  12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 311
  13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 447
  14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 198
  15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 182
  16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 217
  17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. carril
  18. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 291
  19. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. carril
  20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. carril

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Carril.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/carril. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·