curious

What it means

1. Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying.

   Young children are naturally curious about the world and everything in it.

   5 more examples

   I was ſo curious likewiſe as to goe to the place, where it is ſaid the great tower of Babel was built, being about halfe a days iourney diſtant; where I ſawe nothing but a high mountaine of earth in the midſt of a plaine where in digging you may finde certaine bricks, whereof it is ſaide the tower is built.

   1615, [Henri de Feynes, Comte de Monfart], translated by [Jean Loiseau de Tourval], An Exact and Cvriovs Survey of All the East Indies, euen to Canton, the Chiefe Cittie of China: All Duly Performed by Land, by Monsieur de Monfart, the Like whereof was Neuer hetherto, Brought to an End. […] Newly Translated out of the Trauailers Manuscript, London: Printed by Thomas Dawson, for VVilliam Arondell, […], →OCLC, pages 7–8

   I shall quit your vessel on the ice raft which brought me thither and shall seek the most northern extremity of the globe; I shall collect my funeral pile, and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch, who would create such another as I have been.

   1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 189

   Jack Bradshaw, the leader of the Owl Patrol of the Redscar Scouts, strode to the dry stone wall bounding the cliff path, and drew from between the stones a ball of crumpled paper. He was curious as to why it had been placed there—where it could not have lodged accidentally—and he smoothed it out. He found it to be pencilled over with figures, like a scrap that had been used to reckon on.

   1915 January, W. Jay, “The Answering Owl. A Tale of an East Coast Spy.”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XXXVIII, part I, London: “Boy’s Own Paper” Office, […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 17, column 1

   George is a little monkey, / and all monkeys are curious. / But no monkey / is as curious as George. / That is why his name is / Curious George.

   1958, Margret Rey, Curious George Flies a Kite, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005, →ISBN, page 3

   I know that not everyone feels like they are naturally curious—or bold enough to ask about someone's shoes. But here's the secret: that doesn't matter. You can use curiosity even if you don't think of yourself as instinctively curious.

   2015, Brian Grazer, Charles Fishman, A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 58

   Synonyms: enquiring, inquiring, exquisitive, investigative, peery · Antonyms: incurious, noncurious, uncurious

2. Caused by curiosity.

   But he to ſhifte their curious requeſt, / Gan cauſen, why ſhe could not come in place; [...].

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 26, page 534

   2 more examples

   Such is the uneven State of human Life: And it afforded me a great many curious Speculations afterwards, when I had a little recovered my first surprise.

   1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 185

   The doctor heard him, faced around, and stood waiting, a curious expression settling on his harsh, medicinal face as Mr. Button drew near.

   1922 May 27, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, in Tales of the Jazz Age, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published September 1922, →OCLC, part I, page 193

3. Leading one to ask questions about; somewhat odd, out of the ordinary, or unusual.

   The platypus is a curious creature, with fur like a mammal and a beak like a bird.

   5 more examples

   1485 – Thomas Malory. Le Morte Darthur, Book X, Chapter xxxi, leaf 232v Thenne at the mete cam in Elyas the harper & by cause he was a curyous harper men herd hym synge the same lay that Dynadan had made "Then at the meat came in Eliot the harper, and because he was a curious harper men heard him sing the same lay that Dinadan had made"

   Abundance of Samphire, and a curious bulboſe Plant, creſted with little Flowers ſtriped with white and Cinnamon colour.

   1693, [John Ray], “Some Plants Observ’d by Sir George Wheeler in His Voyage to Greece and Asia Minor”, in A Collection of Curious Travels and Voyages. […], tome II, [London: Printed for S[amuel] Smith and B[enjamin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […]], →OCLC, page 30

   I found him by his Blood ſtaining the water; and by the help of a Rope which I slung round him and gave the Negroes to hawl, they drag'd him on Shore, and found that it was a moſt curious Leopard, ſpotted and fine to an admirable Degree, and the Negroes held up their Hands with Admiration to think what it was I had kill'd him with.

   1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 34

   "But the curiousest thing a'most as I ever see at sea," resumed the mate, with an air of abstraction, and filling himself another glass of grog—"a'most the curiousest thing I ever see was when I was a coming home from Quebec in the old Jane— [...]"

   1851, [William Henry Gregory], chapter II, in A Transport Voyage to the Mauritius and back; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 90, column 1

   What was the curiousest thing he had seen? Well! He didn't know. He couldn't momently name what was the curiousest thing he had seen—unless it was a Unicorn—and he see him once at a Fair.

   1855 Christmas, Charles Dickens, “The Boots”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Holly-tree Inn. Being the Extra Christmas Number of Household Words, volume XII, New York, N.Y.: Dix & Edwards, publishers, […], published 1856, →OCLC, page 18, column 2

   Synonyms: aberrant, abnormal, alien, anomalous, as queer as Dick's hatband, bizarre, booky, deviant · Antonyms: uncurious

In a sentence

Young children are naturally curious about the world and everything in it.

Where it comes from

1. Latincūriōsus
2. Old Frenchcurius
3. Middle Englishcurious
4. Englishcurious

From Middle English curious, from Old French curius, from Latin cūriōsus. The English word is cognate with Italian curioso, Occitan curios, Portuguese curioso, and Spanish curioso. Displaced native Old English firwitġeorn.