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trapeze

truh-PEEZ · noun

LatinFrenchEnglish

Origin

Trapeze comes from French trapèze, itself from Latin trapezium.

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Journey

The word entered French and then English still carrying its geometric root, later attaching to the swinging bar whose ropes and crossbar sketch out that four-sided shape.

Related words

It's a doublet of trapezium, meaning both words descend from the same Latin term but arrived in English by different paths.

More words

From French

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