circle
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "circle", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "circle" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "circle" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
circle is aEnglishnoun. It means: A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from a given point (center). Pronounced /ˈsɜɹkəl/. It ranks #2,720 in English word frequency. Often confused with cycle and circus.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | circle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɜɹkəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,720 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for circle is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɜɹkəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,720 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for circle, with forms such as "ccircle", "cicrle", and "circcle". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "cycle", "circus", "cirque", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English circle, cercle, from Old French cercle and Latin circulus, diminutive of Latin circus (“circle, circus”), from Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos, “circle, ring”), related to Old English hring (“ring”). Compare also Old English ċircul (“circle… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is circle, spelled C-I-R-C-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from a given point (center).
- 2A two-dimensional geometric figure, a disk, consisting of the set of all those points of a plane at a distance less than or equal to a fixed distance (radius) from a given point.
- 3Any shape, curve or arrangement of objects that approximates to or resembles the geometric figures.
- 4Any shape, curve or arrangement of objects that approximates to or resembles the geometric figures.
- 5Any shape, curve or arrangement of objects that approximates to or resembles the geometric figures.
- 6A specific group of persons; especially one who shares a common interest.
- 7The orbit of an astronomical body.
- 8A line comprising two semicircles of 30 yards radius centred on the wickets joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch used to enforce field restrictions in a one-day match.
- 9A ritual circle that is cast three times deosil and closes three times widdershins either in the air with a wand or literally with stones or other items used for worship.
- 10A traffic circle or roundabout.
- 11Compass; circuit; enclosure.
- 12An instrument of observation, whose graduated limb consists of an entire circle. When fixed to a wall in an observatory, it is called a mural circle; when mounted with a telescope on an axis and in Y's, in the plane of the meridian, a meridian or transit circle; when involving the principle of reflection, like the sextant, a reflecting circle; and when that of repeating an angle several times continuously along the graduated limb, a repeating circle.
- 13A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself.
- 14A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning.
- 15Indirect form of words; circumlocution.
- 16A territorial division or district.
- 17A bagginess of the skin below the eyes from lack of sleep.
Etymology
From Middle English circle, cercle, from Old French cercle and Latin circulus, diminutive of Latin circus (“circle, circus”), from Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos, “circle, ring”), related to Old English hring (“ring”). Compare also Old English ċircul (“circle, zodiac”), which came from the same Latin source.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccircle,cicrle,circcle,circel,circlle,cirlce,cirrcle,cricle,icrcle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for circle
Misspelling Variants of "circle"
Frequency rank: #2,720 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: