Curve

How to spell curve

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce curve

What does curve mean?

1. nounA line or surface that bends smoothly without any sharp angles.
2. verbTo bend or move in a smooth, rounded path rather than a straight line.

Curve in a sentence

• noun

  The road follows a gentle curve around the lake.

• verb

  The river begins to curve sharply just past the old mill.

• noun

  The designer drew a smooth curve along the edge of the table.

• verb

  Skilled bowlers can make the ball curve through the air.

Where does curve come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin adjective curvus, which literally meant 'bent' or 'crooked', and the related verb curvare, 'to bend'. English first adopted it in the 1400s as an adjective meaning 'bent', taken largely from learned Latin usage, before it settled into its modern role as a noun and verb for a smoothly bending line. The familiar noun sense, a rounded line that turns without sharp angles, became common only in the 1600s. The same curvus root survives in close relatives such as 'curvature' and the medical term 'scoliosis' has no link, but 'curvaceous' clearly does. The spelling keeps the Latin -urv- cluster and the silent final -e, which is the small trap, since the word is pronounced as a single short syllable.

How the word is built

• curv- (from Latin curvus: bent, crooked)
• -e (silent French ending)