carrel

carrel · noun¹

1. Middle English · inherited fromcarole“round dance with singing; group of people dancing and singing in a circle; circular thing; braid, chain (?); stall for study or writing; writing table; etc.”
2. English todaycarrel

A variant of carol (“small closet or enclosure”), from Middle English carole (“round dance with singing; group of people dancing and singing in a circle; circular thing; braid, chain (?); stall for study or writing; writing table; etc.”) (possibly referring to the fact that the item encloses or surrounds the person using it): see further at carol.

carrel · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kʷetwóres“four”
2. Latin · derived fromquadrus“square”
3. Vulgar Latin · derived from*quadrellus
4. Old French · derived fromquarel“square block of stone”
5. Middle French · borrowed fromcarrelé“type of fabric”
6. English todaycarrel

Probably borrowed from Middle French carrelé (“type of fabric”), probably from carrelé (“having checks”), an adjective use of the past participle of carreler (“to pave; to tile”) (modern French carreler), from carrel + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs). Carrel is a variant of carreau (“square; tile”), from Old French quarel (“square block of stone”), from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, from Latin quadrus (“square”, adjective), probably from quattuor (“four”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”)) + -us (suffix forming adjectives).

carrel · noun³

Possibly a variant of quarrel.

Words from the same roots