circa

See also: Circa

English

Alternative forms

• (abbreviations):
  • c., c, ca., ca
  • cca., cir., circ. (rare)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.

Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos)bor.

Latin circus

Latin circum

Latin circālbor.

English circa

Learned borrowing from Latin circā.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜː.kə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜɹ.kə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kə
• Hyphenation: cir‧ca

Preposition

circa

1. Synonym of around, about, approximately, particularly used with historical dating.

   Coordinate terms: ante, post, ob., r.

   Julius Caesar visited this area circa 50 BC.

   • 2011 January 27, Michael Crowley, “Decision Time for Senator John Thune”, in TIME‎^[1], archived from the original on 10 May 2011:

     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.

Translations

approximately, about, around — see also c.,‎ approximately,‎ roughly,‎ grosso modo,‎ around

• Arabic: حَوَالِي (ḥawālī)

  Egyptian Arabic: حوالي (ḥawālī)

• Armenian: մոտ (hy) (mot), մոտավորապես (hy) (motavorapes)
• Bulgarian: около (bg) (okolo), приблизително (bg) (priblizitelno)
• Catalan: circa (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大約 / 大约 (zh) (dàyuē)

• Czech: přibližně (cs), cirka (cs)
• Danish: cirka (da)
• Dutch: circa (nl)
• Esperanto: ĉirkaŭ (eo)
• Faroese: umleið
• Finnish: noin (fi)
• French: (with a measure) environ (fr), (with a date) vers (fr)
• Georgian: დაახლოებით (daaxloebit)
• German: ungefähr (de), etwa (de), um (de), circa (de), zirka (de)
• Greek: περίπου (el) (perípou), περ. (el) (per.)
• Hebrew: בקירוב (be'qiruv), בסביבות (be'svivot)
• Hindi: लगभग (hi) m (lagbhag), उमूमन (hi) m (umūman), तक़रीबन (hi) m (taqrīban)
• Hungarian: cirka (hu), körülbelül (hu), nagyjából (hu), hozzávetőleg (hu)
• Icelandic: um það bil (is), circa (is), sirka
• Italian: circa (it)
• Japanese: 約… (ja) (yaku), 大体… (ja) (daitai), …位 (ja) (kurai; gurai), …頃 (ja) (…ごろ, goro), およそ… (ja) (oyoso)
• Korean: […] 경(頃) ([ … ] gyeong), 대략(大略) (ko) (daeryak)
• Macedonian: о́колу (ókolu), при́ближно (príbližno), ци́рка (círka)
• Norwegian: cirka (no)
• Persian: حوالی (fa) (havâli-ye)
• Polish: circa (pl)
• Portuguese: cerca de, aproximadamente (pt)
• Russian: приблизи́тельно (ru) (priblizítelʹno), приме́рно (ru) (primérno), о́коло (ru) (ókolo) (+ genitive case)
• Spanish: cerca de, circa (es)
• Swedish: cirka (sv)
• Thai: ประมาณ (th) (bprà-maan)
• Tibetan: ཡས་མས (yas mas)
• Turkish: aşağı yukarı (tr)
• Udmurt: ог (og)
• Vietnamese: khoảng (vi)
• Volapük: za (vo)

See also

• circum-

Anagrams

• ARCIC, Ricca, craic

Czech

Alternative forms

• cirka

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.

Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos)bor.

Latin circus

Latin circum

Latin circabor.

Czech circa

Borrowed from Latin circa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sɪrka]

Adverb

circa

1. circa, approximately

   Synonym: cca

Further reading

• “circa”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “circa”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Alternative forms

• ca.
• c.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin circa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪr.kaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cir‧ca

Preposition

circa

1. circa: about, approximately

Adverb

circa

1. circa: about, approximately

   Synonyms: grofweg, pakweg, omstreeks, ongeveer, plusminus, ruwweg, zo'n, pak hem beet

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin circa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siʁ.ka/

Preposition

circa

1. approximately, about

German

Alternative forms

• zirka

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sɪʁka]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adverb

circa

1. circa

   Synonyms: etwa, ungefähr

Further reading

• “circa” in Duden online
• “circa”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)
• “circa” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Italian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin circā.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃir.ka/
• Rhymes: -irka
• Hyphenation: cìr‧ca

Preposition

circa

1. regarding, concerning

Adverb

circa

1. about, approximately

Anagrams

• craci, ricca

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkɪr.kaː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃir.ka]

Etymology 1

Later form for circum, or from circum + eā. The accusative is from the adverbial derivation.

Adverb

circā (not comparable)

1. around; about
2. on both sides

Preposition

circā (+ accusative)

1. around; near; about
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita I.7:

     Circa advenam manifestae reum caedis

     around the stranger accused of open murder

2. regarding, concerning
   • c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Ephesii.6.22:

     quem misi ad vos in hoc ipsum ut cognoscatis quae circa nos sunt et consoletur corda vestra

     Whom I have sent to you for this very thing, so that you can know things that are about us, and so that he can comfort your hearts.

Related terms

• circātor
• circus

Postposition

circā (+ ablative)

1. by the reason of, on account of

Derived terms

• quōcircā

Descendants

• Asturian: cerca, cierca
• Catalan: cerca, circa
• Dutch: circa
• English: circa
• French: circa
• German: circa
• Italian: circa
• Norwegian Bokmål: cirka
• Portuguese: cerca
• Romanian: circa
• Sicilian: circa
• Spanish: cerca, circa

References

• “circa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “circa”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "circa", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “circa”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• circa in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[3], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• Online Latin dictionary, Olivetti

Etymology 2

Ultimately related to etymology 1. Sense 4 is only attested in the form cerca(s); see there for more.

Noun

circa f (genitive circae); first declension (Medieval Latin)

1. patrol, watch
2. episcopal visit
3. inquiry, inquest
4. defensive enclosure, moat

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.

Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos)bor.

Latin circus

Latin circum

Latin circāubor.

Polish circa

Unadapted borrowing from Latin circā.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡sir.ka/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -irka
• Syllabification: cir‧ca

Particle

circa

1. (literary) circa, nearly, almost (in close approximation)

   Synonyms: blisko, koło, mniej więcej, niespełna, niemal, około, prawie, w przybliżeniu

   Na świecie żyje circa 9 mld ludzi. ― There are circa 9 billion people in the world.

Further reading

• “circa”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[4] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “circa”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[5] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.

Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos)bor.

Latin circus

Latin circum

Latin circalbor.

Romanian circa

Learned borrowing from Latin circa.

Adverb

circa

1. approximately, about, or so

   Synonym: cam

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.

Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos)bor.

Latin circus

Latin circum

Latin circālbor.

Spanish circa

Learned borrowing from Latin circā.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθiɾka/ [ˈθiɾ.ka] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˈsiɾka/ [ˈsiɾ.ka] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -iɾka
• Syllabification: cir‧ca

Preposition

circa

1. circa

Further reading

• “circa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025