Curb

How to spell curb

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce curb

What does curb mean?

1. verbTo restrain, limit, or keep something under control.
2. nounA check or restraint placed on something to limit it.
3. nounThe raised stone or concrete edge separating a pavement from the road (spelled 'kerb' in British usage).

Curb in a sentence

• verb

  The new policy is meant to curb wasteful spending across the department.

• noun

  The council placed a strict curb on new construction near the river.

• noun

  The delivery driver parked with two wheels resting against the curb.

• verb

  She had to curb her temper during the long negotiation.

• noun

  A sensible budget acts as a curb on impulse purchases.

• noun

  She stepped off the curb and waited for the crossing signal.

Where does curb come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin curvus, meaning 'bent' or 'curved', which passed into Old French as the verb courber, 'to bend'. English adopted it in the fifteenth century, at first to describe a chain or strap passed under a horse's jaw to bend its head and check its movement. From that very physical idea of bending and restraining an animal, the figurative sense of holding back or controlling any force or desire grew naturally. The same curvus root that gives us 'curve' and 'curvature' is therefore the literal ancestor here, since a curb originally worked by bending. In American and Canadian usage 'curb' later took on the additional meaning of the raised stone edge along a street, a sense that British writers spell 'kerb' instead, and that split is the spelling trap to watch.

How the word is built

• curb (from Latin curvus: bent, curved), a single root word with no affixes