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LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

circa.

around; about

5 characters2 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

adv[ˈkɪr.kaː]Classical-Latin[ˈt͡ʃir.ka]

  1. around; about

    not-comparable

  2. on both sides

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Later form for circum, or from circum + eā. The accusative is from the adverbial derivation.

prep[ˈkɪr.kaː]Classical-Latin[ˈt͡ʃir.ka]

  1. around; near; about

    with-accusative

  2. regarding, concerning

    with-accusative
Where this word comes from

Later form for circum, or from circum + eā. The accusative is from the adverbial derivation.

postp[ˈkɪr.kaː]Classical-Latin[ˈt͡ʃir.ka]

  1. by the reason of, on account of

    with-ablative
Where this word comes from

Later form for circum, or from circum + eā. The accusative is from the adverbial derivation.

noun[ˈkɪr.kaː]Classical-Latin[ˈt͡ʃir.ka]

  1. patrol, watch

    Medieval-Latin · declension-1 · feminine

  2. episcopal visit

    Medieval-Latin · declension-1 · feminine

  3. inquiry, inquest

    Medieval-Latin · declension-1 · feminine

  4. defensive enclosure, moat

    Medieval-Latin · declension-1 · feminine
Where this word comes from

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

noun/ˈt͡serka//ˈt͡ʃ-/

  1. surrounding structure

    Proto-Western-Romance · feminine · reconstruction
Where this word comes from

From Latin circus (“ring, hoop”), either a direct feminization of it or a deverbal of circāre, itself a verb based on circus.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.