Wordwyrt

chateau

/ʃæˈtəʊ/sha-TOH
/ʃæˈtoʊ/sha-TOH

Meaningfortified place

Common meaning: large French country house or castle

Journey through time

  1. Latincastellum‘fortified place’source
  2. Old Frenchmeaning shiftsfortified place → castelchastel‘castel’source
  3. Englishmeaning shiftscastel → large French country house or castlechateau‘large French country house or castle’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin castellum ‘fortified place’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry CHATEAU, p. 105 · dictionary scan

Roots

Related words

castle

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