Etymology

square

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Today it means: A polygon with four straight sides of equal length and four right angles; an equilateral rectangle; a regular quadrilateral. Full definition →

Middle English square ← Old French esquarre ← Vulgar Latin *exquadra
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The story

  1. Vulgar Latin · derived from*exquadra
  2. Old French · derived fromesquarre
  3. Middle English · inherited fromsquare
  4. English todaysquare

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra. Displaced Old English fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.