citadel
SIT-uh-dell · noun
Origin
Citadel comes from French citadelle, borrowed from Italian cittadella, a diminutive of città meaning 'city,' which traces back to Latin cīvitās.
This is Curio: one word's origin story, every morning. No feed, no backlog.
One short email each morning. Free; stop anytime. See a sample →
Journey
The word shrank a city down into a diminutive before it hardened into the walled stronghold sense we use in English.
Related words
It shares its root with 'city' itself, both descending from Latin cīvitās.