theater
THEE-uh-tər · noun
Origin
English theater comes from Middle English theater/theatre, from Old French theatre, from Latin theātrum, from Ancient Greek θέᾱτρον (théātron, 'a place for viewing'), itself from θεᾰ́ομαι (theắomai, 'to see, to watch, to observe').
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Journey
The word has stayed remarkably close to its root sense all along: from Greek 'a place for viewing' to Latin theātrum, through Old French and Middle English, into modern theater — always naming a place built for watching something.
Related words
Theater is a doublet of tiatr, meaning the two words descend from the same source but arrived in English by different paths.
More words
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