# circle
## English
### 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.

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /ˈsɜɹkəl/, enPR: sûrʹ-kəl
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈsɜːkəl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kəl
* Homophone: cercal
* Hyphenation: cir‧cle

### Noun

circle (plural circles)
* (geometry) 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).
    Synonyms: (not in mathematical use) coil, (not in mathematical use) ring, (not in mathematical use) loop
    The set of all points (x, y) such that (x − 1)$^2$ + y$^2$ = r$^2$ is a circle of radius r around the point (1, 0).
* A 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.
    Synonyms: disc, (in mathematical and general use) disk, (not in mathematical use; UK & Commonwealth only) round
* Any shape, curve or arrangement of objects that approximates to or resembles the geometric figures.
    Children, please join hands and form a circle.
** Any thin three-dimensional equivalent of the geometric figures.
    Cut a circle out of that sheet of metal.
** A curve that more or less forms part or all of a circle.
    The crank moves in a circle.
* A specific group of persons; especially one who shares a common interest.
    Synonyms: bunch, gang, group
    inner circle
    circle of friends
    literary circle
** 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:As his name gradually became known, the circle of his acquaintance widened.
** 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
** 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, […], the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"
** 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles.
* The orbit of an astronomical body.
* (cricket) A 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.
* (Wicca) A 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.
* (South Africa, Philippines, India) A traffic circle or roundabout.
** 2011, Charles E. Webb, Downfall and Freedom, page 120:He arrived at the lakefront and drove around the circle where the amusement park and beach used to be when he was a kid […]
* (obsolete) Compass; circuit; enclosure.
** c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:in the circle of this forest
* (astronomy) An 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.
* A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself.
** 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:Thus in a circle runs the peasant's pain.
* (logic) A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning.
** 1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XVIII, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 171:That heavy Bodies deſcend by gravity, is no better an account then we might expect from a Ruſtick: and again; that Gravity is a quality whereby an heavy body deſcends, is an impertinent Circle, and teacheth nothing.
* Indirect form of words; circumlocution.
** 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet Archive page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):Has he given the lie, / In circle, or oblique, or semicircle.
* A territorial division or district.
    The ten Circles of the Holy Roman Empire were those principalities or provinces which had seats in the German Diet.
* (in the plural) A bagginess of the skin below the eyes from lack of sleep.
    After working all night, she had circles under her eyes.

#### Derived terms

* Antarctic Circle
* Apollonian circle
* arctic circle
* Arctic Circle
* azimuth circle
* babysitting circle
* Bevan circle
* blood circle
* blue circle rate
* bolt circle
* Brocard circle
* Carlyle circle
* Cartesian circle
* center circle
* centre circle
* circle-A
* circle back
* circle changeup
* circle contact lens
* circle dance
* circle-ellipse problem
* circle game
* circle gets the square
* circle group
* circle inversion
* circle-ish
* circlejerk
* circle-jerk
* circle jerk
* circle jerker
* circle lens
* circlelike
* circleness
* circle of antisimilitude
* circle of Apollonius
* circle of fifths
* circle of friends
* circle of life
* circle of the gorge
* circle of Willis
* circle pit
* circle progression
* circler
* circle runner
* circle sector
* circle segment
* circle sentence
* circle sentencing
* circle skirt
* circle-strafe
* circle strafe
* circle time
* Circleville
* circlewise
* circley
* circline
* circlip
* circlish
* circloid
* circulene
* circuline
* circumcircle
* circumscribed circle
* come full circle
* corn circle
* count circle
* crop circle
* datum circle
* declination circle
* demicircle
* doujin circle
* dress circle
* druid's circle
* e-circle
* elf circle
* encircle
* equinoctial circle
* excircle
* face-off circle
* fairy circle
* family circle
* fielding circle
* Ford circle
* full circle
* generalised circle
* generalized circle
* gorge circle
* great circle
* great circle arc
* great-circle arc
* great circle route
* green circle
* gyrocircle
* Hardy-Littlewood circle method
* hemicircle
* hermeneutic circle
* hour circle
* hut circle
* ice circle
* imperial circle
* incircle
* inner circle
* inscribed circle
* intercircle
* Knight of the Golden Circle
* Lufbery circle
* magic circle
* Malfatti circle
* math circle
* maxicircle
* megacircle
* midcircle
* minicircle
* Mohr's circle
* moral circle
* mosh circle
* mural circle
* nine-point circle
* nine points circle
* oblique circle
* on deck circle
* orthotomic circle
* osculating circle
* parhelic circle
* parquet circle
* perfect circle
* photon circle
* polar circle
* polygon-circle graph
* prayer circle
* pseudocircle
* quadrature of the circle
* quality circle
* quarter circle
* quasicircle
* recircle
* red circle rate
* reflecting circle
* rescue circle
* semi-circle
* sewing circle
* shooting circle
* small circle
* social circle
* speak in circles
* Spieker circle
* square circle
* squared circle
* square the circle
* squircle
* stone circle
* study circle
* subcircle
* supercircle
* swing round the circle
* talking circle
* timber circle
* turning circle
* unit circle
* vertical circle
* vicious circle
* vicious circle principle
* virtuous circle
* watch circle
* Willis circle
* winner's circle

#### Related terms

* circular
* circulate
* circus

#### Descendants

* Pitcairn-Norfolk: sirkil

#### Translations

Abkhaz: аикәагьежь (ajkʷʼagʲež)
Albanian: rreth (sq) m
Amharic: ክብ (kəb)
Arabic: دَائِرَة (ar) f (dāʔira)
Egyptian Arabic: ديرة f (dayira)
Aragonese: cerclo m
Armenian: շրջանագիծ (hy) (šrǰanagic)
Aromanian: tserclju
Assamese: বৃত্ত (britto)
Asturian: círculu m
Azerbaijani: dairə (az)
Basque: zirkulu
Belarusian: круг m (kruh), акру́жнасць f (akrúžnascʹ)
Bengali: বৃত্ত (bn) (britto)
Breton: kelc'h (br) m
Bulgarian: кръг (bg) m (krǎg), окръ́жност f (okrǎ́žnost)
Burmese: စကြာ (my) (ca.kra)
Catalan: cercle (ca) m
Cebuano: lingin
Chamicuro: na'tepelejka
Chechen: го (go)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 圓形 / 圆形 (zh) (yuánxíng), 圈子 (zh) (quānzi), 圓圈 / 圆圈 (zh) (yuánquān) (informal)
Chuvash: ҫавра (śavra), ҫавракӑш (śavrak̬ăš)
Czech: kruh (cs) m, kružnice (cs) f
Dalmatian: circol
Danish: cirkel (da) c
Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: cirkel (nl) m, kring (nl) m
Egyptian: (šnw m)
Esperanto: cirklo (eo)
Estonian: ring (et)
Finnish: ympyrä (fi)
French: cercle (fr) m
Friulian: cercli m
Galician: círculo (gl) m
Georgian: წრე (ka) (c̣re)
German: Kreis (de) m
Greek: κύκλος (el) m (kýklos)
Ancient: κύκλος m (kúklos)
Haitian Creole: sèk
Hawaiian: pōʻai
Hebrew: מַעְגָּל (he) m (ma'agál)
Hindi: चक्र (hi) m (cakra), वृत्त (hi) m (vŕtt)
Hungarian: kör (hu)
Icelandic: hringur (is)
Ido: cirklo (io)
Indonesian: lingkaran (id)
Ingrian: kruga
Ingush: гом (gom)
Interlingua: circulo
Irish: ciorcal (ga) m
Italian: cerchio (it) m
Japanese: 円 (ja) (えん, en), 丸 (ja) (まる, maru)
Kannada: ವೃತ್ತ (kn) (vṛtta), ವರ್ತುಳ (vartuḷa)
Kazakh: шеңбер (kk) (şeñber), дөңгелек (döñgelek)
Khmer: វង់មូល (vŭəng muul), មណ្ឌល (km) (mŭəndŭəl), វង់ (km) (vŭəng)
Kongo: nkongolo
Korean: 원(圓) (ko) (won), 동그라미 (ko) (donggeurami)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: خڕ (xirr)
Northern Kurdish: çember (ku)
Kyrgyz: тегерек (ky) (tegerek)
Ladino: sirkolo
Lao: ກົງ (lo) (kong), ແຫວນ (lo) (wǣn)
Latin: circulus m, circus m
Latvian: riņķis (lv) m
Lithuanian: apskritimas m
Low German: Kring
Luxembourgish: Krees m
Macedonian: круг (mk) m (krug)
Malay: bulatan (ms)
Malayalam: വട്ടം (ml) (vaṭṭaṁ), വൃത്തം (ml) (vr̥ttaṁ)
Maltese: ċirku
Manx: kiarkyl m
Maori: porowhita, porotaka
Marathi: वर्तुळ n (vartuḷ), गोल m (gol)
Megleno-Romanian: țerc
Middle Persian: 𐫝𐫍𐫡 (chr /⁠čahr⁠/)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: тойрог (mn) (tojrog), дугуй (mn) (duguj)
Navajo: názbąs
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sirkel (no) m
Occitan: cercle (oc) m
Odia: ବୃତ୍ତ (or) (brutta)
Old English: trendel m, circul m
Oromo: geengoo
Ossetian: зылд (zyld)
Pannonian Rusyn: круг m (kruh)
Pashto: دايره (ps) f (dāyrá)
Persian:
Dari: دَایِرَه (dāyira), حَلْقَه (halqa), چَرْخ (čarx)
Iranian Persian: دایِرِه (dâyere), حَلْقِه (halğe), چَرْخ (čarx)
Piedmontese: sercc m
Polish: okrąg (pl) m, krąg (pl) m
Portuguese: círculo (pt) m
Quechua: diyosuun, muyu
Rhine Franconian: Krääs
Romanian: cerc (ro) n
Romansch: rudè, rudi
Russian: окру́жность (ru) f (okrúžnostʹ), круг (ru) m (krug)
Sanskrit: चक्र (sa) n (cakrá), वर्तुल (sa) n (vartula), मण्डल (sa) n (máṇḍala)
Sardinian: chilciu, círculu, tzírculu
Scottish Gaelic: cruinne m or f, cuairt f, buail f, ràth m, cearcall m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: кру̑г m, кружница f
Roman: krȗg (sh) m, kružnica (sh) f
Sicilian: circhiu (scn) m
Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
Slovak: kruh m, kružnica f
Slovene: krog (sl) m, krožnica f
Somali: goob (so)
Spanish: círculo (es) m, circunferencia (es) f
Swahili: duara (sw)
Swedish: cirkel (sv) c
Tagalog: bilog (tl)
Tajik: доира (doyira), ҳалқа (tg) (halqa)
Tamil: வட்டம் (ta) (vaṭṭam)
Telugu: వృత్తము (te) (vr̥ttamu)
Thai: แหวน (th) (wɛ̌ɛn), วง (th) (wong), กง (th) (gong)
Tibetan: སྒོར་སྒོར (sgor sgor), སྒོར་དབྱིབས (sgor dbyibs)
Tocharian B: serke
Turkish: daire (tr)
Turkmen: tegelek
Ukrainian: круг (uk) m (kruh), окру́жність (uk) f (okrúžnistʹ)
Urdu: دائِرَہ m (dāira), چَکْر m (cakr)
Uyghur: دۈگلەك (düglek), چەمبىرەك (chembirek), گەردىش (gerdish)
Uzbek: aylana (uz), doira (uz)
Venetan: sércio m
Vietnamese: vòng tròn (vi), đường tròn (vi)
Walloon: ceke (wa)
Welsh: cylch (cy) m
Yakut: төгүрүмтэ (tögürümte)
Yiddish: קרײַז m (krayz)
Yoruba: please add this translation if you can
Zazaki: daire m :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

circle (third-person singular simple present circles, present participle circling, simple past and past participle circled)
* (transitive) To travel around along a curved path.
    The wolves circled the herd of deer.
** 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:Other planets circle other suns.
* (transitive) To surround.
    A high fence circles the enclosure.
** 1699, William Dampier, Voyages and Descriptions:Their heads are circled with a short turban.
** 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Dungeon:So he lies, circled with evil.
* (transitive) To place or mark a circle around.
    Circle the jobs that you are interested in applying for.
* (intransitive) To travel in circles.
    Vultures circled overhead.

#### Derived terms

* circle the drain
* circle the field
* circle the wagons

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Anagrams

* cleric