Circus in Scrabble and Meaning

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You can make 23 words from circus according to the Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

Definitions and meaning of circus

circus

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin circus (“ring, circle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-, *ker- (“to turn, to bend”). Doublet of cirque. Displaced native Old English hringsetl (literally “ring seat”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːkəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝkəs/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kəs

Noun

circus (plural circuses or (rare) circusses or (rare) circi)

1. A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. [from late 18th c.]

2. A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.

3. (figurative) A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.
4. (historical) In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.
5. (military, World War II) A code name for bomber attacks with fighter escorts in the day time. The attacks were against short-range targets with the intention of occupying enemy fighters and keeping their fighter units in the area concerned.
6. (obsolete) Circuit; space; enclosure.

Coordinate terms

• (open space): concourse

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

circus (third-person singular simple present circuses or circusses, present participle circusing or circussing, simple past and past participle circused or circussed)

1. To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus

References

Anagrams

• Curcis, Ruccis

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin circus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪr.kʏs/
• Hyphenation: cir‧cus

Noun

circus n (plural circussen, diminutive circusje n)

1. circus (company of performers; place where this company performs)

Derived terms

• circusartiest
• circusclown
• circusdier
• circusshow
• circustent

Descendants

• Afrikaans: sirkus
• → Indonesian: sirkus

See also

• beestenspel

Latin

Etymology

Likely borrowed from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos), κίρκος (kírkos, “ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkir.kus/, [ˈkɪrkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃir.kus/, [ˈt͡ʃirkus]

Noun

circus m (genitive circī); second declension

1. a circular line or orbit; circle, ring
2. a racecourse or space where games are held, especially one that is round
3. the spectators in a circus; a circus

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Derived terms

Descendants

Learned borrowings:

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cĭrcus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, page 708

Further reading

• “circus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “circus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• circus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “circus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “circus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin