Meanings
circa1
- Synonym of around, about, approximately, particularly used with historical dating.
Julius Caesar visited this area circa 50 BC.
1 more example
Political talent scouts have called South Dakota's John Thune "the Republican Obama" because his low profile, youth and presidential bearing recall the unknown Illinois Democrat circa January 2007.
2011 January 27, Michael Crowley, “Decision Time for Senator John Thune”, in TIME, archived from the original on 10 May 2011Synonyms: around, about, approximately, particularly used with historical dating
Circa2
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositionSynonym of around, about, approximately, particularly used with historical dating.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker-
- Ancient Greekκίρκος (kírkos)
- Latincircus
- Latincircum
- Latincircā
- Englishcirca
Learned borrowing from Latin circā.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic حَوَالِي
- حَوَالِي (ḥawālī)approximately, about, around
Bulgarian около, приблизително
- около (okolo)approximately, about, around
- приблизително (priblizitelno)approximately, about, around
Catalan circa
- circaapproximately, about, around
Chinese Mandarin 大約 /大约
- 大約 /大约 (dàyuē)approximately, about, around
Czech přibližně, cirka
- přibližněapproximately, about, around
- cirkaapproximately, about, around
Danish cirka
- cirkaapproximately, about, around
Dutch circa
- circaapproximately, about, around
Esperanto ĉirkaŭ
- ĉirkaŭapproximately, about, around
Finnish noin
- noinapproximately, about, around
French environ, vers
- environapproximately, about, around
- versapproximately, about, around
German ungefähr, etwa
- ungefährapproximately, about, around
- etwaapproximately, about, around
- umapproximately, about, around
- circaapproximately, about, around
- zirkaapproximately, about, around
Greek περίπου, περ.
- περίπου (perípou)approximately, about, around
- περ. (per.)approximately, about, around
Hebrew בקירוב, בסביבות
- בקירוב (be'qiruv)approximately, about, around
- בסביבות (be'svivot)approximately, about, around
Hindi लगभग, उमूमन
- लगभग (lagbhag)approximately, about, around
- उमूमन (umūman)approximately, about, around
- तक़रीबन (taqrīban)approximately, about, around
Hungarian cirka, körülbelül
- cirkaapproximately, about, around
- körülbelülapproximately, about, around
- nagyjábólapproximately, about, around
- hozzávetőlegapproximately, about, around
Icelandic um það bil, circa
- um það bilapproximately, about, around
- circaapproximately, about, around
- sirkaapproximately, about, around
Italian circa
- circaapproximately, about, around
Japanese 約…, 大体…
- 約… (yaku)approximately, about, around
- 大体… (daitai)approximately, about, around
- …位 (kurai; gurai)approximately, about, around
- …頃 (goro)approximately, about, around
- およそ… (oyoso)approximately, about, around
Korean […]경, 대략
- […]경approximately, about, around
- 대략 (daeryak)approximately, about, around
Norwegian cirka
- cirkaapproximately, about, around
Persian حوالی
- حوالی (havâli-ye)approximately, about, around
Polish circa
- circaapproximately, about, around
Portuguese cerca de, aproximadamente
- cerca deapproximately, about, around
- aproximadamenteapproximately, about, around
Russian приблизи́тельно, приме́рно
- приблизи́тельно (priblizítelʹno)approximately, about, around
- приме́рно (primérno)approximately, about, around
- о́коло (ókolo)approximately, about, around
Spanish cerca de, circa
- cerca deapproximately, about, around
- circaapproximately, about, around
Swedish cirka
- cirkaapproximately, about, around
Thai ประมาณ
- ประมาณ (bprà-maan)approximately, about, around
Turkish aşağı yukarı
- aşağı yukarıapproximately, about, around
Vietnamese khoảng
- khoảngapproximately, about, around
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with circa
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
circa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/circa
“circa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/circa. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “circa,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/circa.
Source: circa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.