Calibre

How to spell calibre

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce calibre

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does calibre mean?

1. nounThe degree of someone's ability, importance, or general quality.
2. nounThe internal diameter of a gun barrel, or the diameter of a bullet or shell.

Calibre in a sentence

• The firm needs to recruit staff of the highest calibre.

• The rifle had a smaller calibre than the one used by the army.

• A writer of her calibre rarely struggles to find a publisher.

• Investigators measured the calibre of the recovered bullet.

Where does calibre come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the late 1500s from the French calibre, which meant the bore or internal diameter of a gun barrel. The French had taken it from the Italian calibro, and the trail before that most likely leads back to the Arabic qalib, meaning a 'mould' or 'model', the form into which something is shaped. Some scholars instead connect it to the Greek kalopous, a shoemaker's last (the wooden foot-shaped form used to make shoes), so the precise root is debated. From the literal measurement of a barrel's width, English speakers stretched the word figuratively to mean the measure of a person's quality or ability. The British and Canadian spelling keeps the French '-re' ending, which is the main trap, since American writers see 'caliber' everywhere.

How the word is built

• calibre (from French calibre, a gun's bore or diameter), ultimately from Arabic qalib 'mould, model'

British and American spelling

Calibre is the British spelling. American English spells it caliber.