Round

How to spell round

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce round

What does round mean?

1. adjectiveShaped like a circle or sphere; curved with no corners.
2. nounA single stage, serving, or occurrence within a larger sequence.
3. verbTo make something circular, to go around a point, or to adjust a number to the nearest convenient figure.
4. prepositionOn every side of, or in a circular path about, something; equivalent to 'around'.

Round in a sentence

• adjective

  The table was perfectly round so everyone could see each other.

• noun

  He bought a round of drinks for the whole table.

• verb

  The accountant chose to round each figure to the nearest pound.

• preposition

  A low wall ran round the entire garden.

• adjective

  She preferred round glasses to the angular modern frames.

• noun

  The boxer won the fight in the third round.

Where does round come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word arrived in English in the 1200s from Old French roont or reont, which came from the Latin rotundus, meaning 'wheel-shaped' or 'circular'. That Latin adjective was built on rota, the ordinary word for a wheel, so the core idea has always been something turning or curving back on itself. Over the centuries English trimmed the French form down to 'round', losing the extra vowels but keeping the circular sense at its heart. The same rota root still spins inside relatives like 'rotate', 'rotund', and 'roundabout'. From the basic shape the meaning branched out in many directions: a circuit walked by a guard, a single serving bought for a group, a stage of a competition, and the verb sense of going around a corner or smoothing a number.

How the word is built

• round (from Old French roond, ultimately Latin rotundus: wheel-shaped)