Cursor

How to spell cursor

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cursor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cursor mean?

1. nounThe movable indicator on a computer screen that shows where typing or clicking will take effect.

Cursor in a sentence

• She moved the cursor to the start of the paragraph before typing.

• The cursor froze on screen, so he restarted the laptop.

Where does cursor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes directly from the Latin cursor, meaning 'a runner' or 'one who runs', built on the verb currere, 'to run', and its participle stem curs-. In Latin a cursor could be a swift messenger or even a slave who ran ahead of an aristocrat's carriage to clear the way. The same currere root runs through a whole family of English words, including 'current', 'course', 'cursive', and 'excursion', all carrying the idea of running or flowing. In English the word was first used for the sliding part of a mathematical instrument such as a slide rule, the piece that 'runs' along a scale. When personal computers arrived in the twentieth century, the name was naturally transferred to the moving marker that runs across the screen, which is its dominant meaning today.

How the word is built

• curs- (from Latin currere: to run)
• -or (agent noun suffix: thing that does)