Circa - Wiktionary

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See also: Circa

English

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Alternative forms

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(abbreviations):

  • ca., ca, c.
  • cca., cir., circ. (rare)

Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin circa.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsɜːkə/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈsɝkə/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kə
  • Hyphenation: cir‧ca

Preposition

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circa

  1. Approximately, about, around (typically in relation to time) Julius Caesar visited this area circa 50 BC.
    • 2011 January 27, Michael Crowley, “Decision Time for Senator John Thune”, in TIME:Political talent scouts have called South Dakota's John Thune "the Republican Obama" because his low profile, youth and presidential bearing recall the unknown Illinois Democrat circa January 2007.

Translations

[edit] approximately, about, around
  • Arabic: حَوَالِي (ḥawālī) Egyptian Arabic: حوالي (ḥawālī)
  • Armenian: մոտ (hy) (mot), մոտավորապես (hy) (motavorapes)
  • Bulgarian: около (bg) (okolo), приблизително (bg) (priblizitelno)
  • Catalan: circa (ca)
  • Chinese: Mandarin: 大約 / 大约 (zh) (dàyuē)
  • Czech: přibližně (cs), cirka (cs)
  • Danish: cirka (da)
  • Dutch: circa (nl)
  • Esperanto: ĉirkaŭ (eo)
  • Faroese: umleið
  • Finnish: noin (fi)
  • French: (with a measure) environ (fr), (with a date) vers (fr)
  • Georgian: დაახლოებით (daaxloebit)
  • German: ungefähr (de), etwa (de), um (de), circa (de), zirka (de)
  • Greek: περίπου (el) (perípou), περ. (el) (per.)
  • Hebrew: בקירוב (be'qiruv), בסביבות (be'svivot)
  • Hindi: लगभग (hi) m (lagbhag), उमूमन (hi) m (umūman), तक़रीबन (hi) m (taqrīban)
  • Hungarian: cirka (hu), körülbelül (hu), nagyjából (hu), hozzávetőleg (hu)
  • Icelandic: um það bil (is), circa (is), sirka
  • Italian: circa (it)
  • Japanese: 約… (ja) (yaku), 大体… (ja) (daitai), …位 (ja) (kurai; gurai), …頃 (ja) (…ごろ, goro), およそ… (ja) (oyoso)
  • Korean: […]경(頃) ([ … ]gyeong), 대략(大略) (ko) (daeryak)
  • Macedonian: о́колу (ókolu), при́ближно (príbližno), ци́рка (círka)
  • Norwegian: cirka (no)
  • Persian: حوالی (fa) (havâli-ye)
  • Polish: circa (pl)
  • Portuguese: cerca de, aproximadamente (pt)
  • Russian: приблизи́тельно (ru) (priblizítelʹno), приме́рно (ru) (primérno), о́коло (ru) (ókolo) (+ genitive case)
  • Spanish: cerca de, aproximadamente (es), circa (es)
  • Swedish: cirka (sv)
  • Thai: ประมาณ (th) (bprà-maan)
  • Tibetan: ཡས་མས (yas mas)
  • Turkish: aşağı yukarı (tr)
  • Udmurt: ог (og)
  • Vietnamese: khoảng (vi)
  • Volapük: za (vo)

See also

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  • circum-

Anagrams

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  • ARCIC, Ricca, craic

Czech

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Alternative forms

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  • cirka

Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin circa.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈt͡sɪrka]

Adverb

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circa

  1. circa, approximately Synonym: cca

Further reading

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  • “circa”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “circa”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

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Alternative forms

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  • ca.
  • c.

Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin circa.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈsɪr.kaː/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: cir‧ca

Preposition

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circa

  1. circa: about, approximately

Adverb

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circa

  1. circa: about, approximately Synonyms: grofweg, pakweg, omstreeks, ongeveer, plusminus, ruwweg, zo'n, pak hem beet

French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin circa.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /siʁ.ka/

Preposition

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circa

  1. approximately, about

German

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Alternative forms

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  • zirka

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈt͡sɪʁka]
  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)

Adverb

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circa

  1. circa Synonyms: etwa, ungefähr

Further reading

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  • “circa” in Duden online
  • “circa” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • “circa” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Italian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin circā.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃir.ka/
  • Rhymes: -irka
  • Hyphenation: cìr‧ca

Preposition

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circa

  1. regarding, concerning

Adverb

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circa

  1. about, approximately

Anagrams

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  • craci, ricca

Latin

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Pronunciation

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  • (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkɪr.kaː]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈt͡ʃir.ka]

Etymology 1

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A later form for circum, or from circum + eā.

The accusative is from the adverbial derivation.

Adverb

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circā (not comparable)

  1. around; about
  2. on both sides

Preposition

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circā (+ accusative)

  1. around; near; about
    • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.7:Circa advenam manifestae reum caedisaround the stranger accused of open murder
  2. regarding, concerning
    • 405 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Ephesii.6.22:quem misi ad vos in hoc ipsum ut cognoscatis quae circa nos sunt et consoletur corda vestraWhom I have sent to you for this very thing, so that you can know things that are about us, and so that he can comfort your hearts.
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  • circātor
  • circus

Postposition

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circā (+ ablative)

  1. by the reason of, on account of

Derived terms

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  • quōcircā
Descendants
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  • Asturian: cerca, cierca
  • Catalan: cerca, circa
  • Dutch: circa
  • English: circa
  • French: circa
  • German: circa
  • Italian: circa
  • Norwegian Bokmål: cirka
  • Portuguese: cerca
  • Romanian: circa
  • Sicilian: circa
  • Spanish: cerca, circa
References
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  • “circa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “circa”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "circa", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • “circa”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • circa in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
  • Online Latin dictionary, Olivetti

Etymology 2

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Ultimately related to etymology 1. Sense 4 is only attested in the form cerca(s); see there for more.

Noun

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circa f (genitive circae); first declension (Medieval Latin)[1][2]

  1. patrol, watch
  2. episcopal visit
  3. inquiry, inquest
  4. defensive enclosure, moat
References
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  1. ^ Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “2. circa”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 180
  2. ^ Blaise, Albert (1975), “circa”, in Dictionnaire latin-français des auteurs du moyen-âge: lexicon latinitatis medii aevi (Corpus christianorum) (overall work in Latin and French), Turnhout: Brepols, page 178

Polish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from Latin circā.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡sir.ka/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -irka
  • Syllabification: cir‧ca

Particle

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circa

  1. (literary) circa, nearly, almost (in close approximation) Synonyms: blisko, koło, mniej więcej, niespełna, niemal, około, prawie, w przybliżeniu Na świecie żyje circa 9 mld ludzi. ― There are circa 9 billion people in the world.

Further reading

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  • circa in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • circa in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin circa.

Adverb

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circa

  1. approximately, about, or so Synonym: cam

Spanish

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin circā.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈθiɾka/ [ˈθiɾ.ka] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
  • IPA(key): /ˈsiɾka/ [ˈsiɾ.ka] (Latin America, Philippines)
  • Rhymes: -iɾka
  • Syllabification: cir‧ca

Preposition

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circa

  1. circa

Further reading

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  • “circa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

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