Corner

How to spell corner

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce corner

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does corner mean?

1. nounThe point or area where two lines, edges, walls, or streets meet.
2. verbTo force someone or something into a position from which there is no escape, or to gain control of a market.

Corner in a sentence

• noun

  The lamp stood in the far corner of the living room.

• verb

  The reporters tried to corner the minister for a comment.

• noun

  A small cafe sits on the corner of the high street.

• verb

  The firm hoped to corner the market in cheap electric scooters.

Where does corner come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word entered English in the 1200s from Anglo-Norman and Old French cornere, which described the point or angle where two edges meet. The root is the Latin cornu, meaning literally 'horn', a word that also gave us 'cornet' and 'cornucopia'. A horn is a pointed, jutting thing, and that sense of a sharp projecting angle is exactly what passed into the geometric meaning of where two walls or streets meet. From the physical angle the meaning spread to figurative phrases about being trapped with no escape, and later to the commercial idea of buying up the whole supply of something. The plain spelling hides nothing tricky beyond the unstressed second syllable, which can tempt writers toward a vowel other than 'e'.

How the word is built

• corn- (from Latin cornu: horn, point)
• -er (noun suffix)