Wordwyrt

curfew

/ˈkɜːfjuː/KUR-fyoo
/ˈkɝfju/KUR-fyoo

Meaningcover the fire

Common meaning: an order to stay indoors at night

‘care, concern’ + ‘a fireplace, hearth’ → curfew

Journey through time

  • cur — Latin cūra “care, concern” (path traced)
  • few — Latin focus “a fireplace, hearth” (path traced)

Parts join in French as covre.

  1. Latincūra + focus‘care, concern + a fireplace, hearth’
  2. Frenchcovre
  3. Old Frenchcovre-feusource
  4. Middle Englishcourfewsource
  5. Englishcurfew‘an order to stay indoors at night’ · today

cur also in: curecurioussecureprocureaccurate

few also in: fuelfocalfocus

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 cūra ‘care, concern’ + Latin focus ‘a fireplace, hearth’.

Did you know (Latin cura, "care",…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry cūra, p. 500 · dictionary scan; Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry CURFEW, p. 147 · dictionary scan

Did you know (Latin focus, a…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry focus, p. 764 · dictionary scan; Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry FUEL, p. 222 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • cūra Latin “care, concern”
  • focus Latin “a fireplace, hearth”

Related words

accuratecurecuriousprocuresecurefocalfocusfuel

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