Etymologically
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centre

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:02. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɑ̃tʁ/[1]
  • IPA (France): [sɒ̃tʁ̞][1]
  • IPA (France): [sɒ̃tχ][1]

Forms

centre m (plural centres)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin centrum (“point of a pair of compasses; centre of a circle”), borrowed from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “goad, sting; centre of a circle”).[2][3][4][5][6][1] The Greek word comes from κεντέω (kentéō, “to goad, prick”); the geometrical sense came from the point of the compasses stuck into the spot around which the circle is drawn.[2][3][7] Rey compares only scattered forms such as Old High German hantag (“pointed”), and notes that Welsh cethr (“nail”) and Irish cinteir are taken from the Latin word.[3] The sports sense is a calque of English centre-half, recorded in a French text in 1916.[2]

Cognate with Occitan centre, Spanish centro and Italian centro.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose (about 1275) uses it figuratively for the point inside a circle or sphere at an equal distance from all points of its circumference or surface.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century it also meant, more loosely, the middle of any space (centre du monde), while geometry gave it its strict sense in 1529 (Geoffroy Tory).[2][3] The army had its centre from 1690 (Furetière), and politics from the 1820s, by the seating of assemblies: centre droit (1821), centre gauche (1822), whence centriste and centrisme.[2][3]

From the 17th century it is a place where things gather or from which they spread (1638, Rotrou, Paris le centre du bon goût, 1659, Molière), and, from 1839–42 a town or conurbation.[2] Physics has centre de gravité (1680) and anatomy centre nerveux (1845).[3][2] In football it is a player in the middle of the line (1924, Montherlant), after English.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – Jean de Meun, Roman de la Rose.[2]
  • 14th century – Centre du monde; the middle of any space.[2]
  • 1529 – The geometrical sense, Geoffroy Tory.[2]
  • 1659 – Paris le centre du bon goût, Molière.[2]
  • 1690 – The centre of an army, Furetière.[2][8]
  • 1821–1822 – Centre droit, centre gauche.[2]
  • 1845 – Centre nerveux.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The centre of a circle or sphere; the central point of a figure.[9][1]
  2. The middle part of a space: le centre de la France; the town centre: habiter (dans) le centre.[9]
  3. A place where activities are concentrated: centre commercial, centre culturel, centre d'appels.[9][1]
  4. The main point; the focus: être au centre de l'attention, centre d'intérêt.[9][8]
  5. (politics) The parties between left and right: centre droit, centre gauche.[3][9]
  6. (physics, anatomy) Centre de gravité, centres nerveux.[2][9]
  7. (football) A centre player; a cross into the penalty area.[2][1]

Word family

  • central
  • centrer
  • concentrer
  • décentrer
  • concentrique
  • excentrique
  • centrisme
  • centriste
  • centre-ville
  • égocentrisme
  • centrafricain
  • centrage
  • centraliser
  • centrifuge
  • centripète
  • Latin centrum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 586a
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert