Curved

How to spell curved

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce curved

What does curved mean?

1. adjectiveHaving the smoothly bending shape of a curve rather than a straight line or sharp angle.
2. verbBent or moved in a smoothly rounded line; past tense of curve.

Curved in a sentence

• adjective

  The new sofa had a gently curved back that fitted the corner.

• verb

  The road curved sharply to the left before the bridge.

• adjective

  A curved staircase wound up to the second floor.

• verb

  The river curved around the base of the hill.

Where does curved come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin adjective curvus, which literally meant 'bent' or 'crooked'. From it came the Latin verb curvare, 'to bend or arch something into a rounded shape'. English took up the verb 'curve' in the fifteenth century, and 'curved' is simply its past participle pressed into service as both a verb form and an adjective describing anything that bends smoothly without straight angles. The same Latin root surfaces in close relatives such as 'curvature' and 'curvaceous', and even in the geometry term 'curve' itself. Because the spelling keeps the plain root plus a regular '-ed', the only real trap is remembering it is one tidy syllable, K-U-R-V-E-D, with no doubled letters or stray vowels.

How the word is built

• curv- (from Latin curvus: bent, crooked)
• -ed (past participle / adjective suffix)