Cirque

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /səːk/

Origin

Borrowing from fr cirque, from Latin circus ("ring, circle"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ("to turn, to bend")

A grammar of modern Indo-European, p. 398, 3rd paragraph

The American heritage dictionary of Indo-European roots, p. 78, entry for "(s)ker-3

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Full definition of cirque

Noun

1. (geology) A curved depression in a mountainside with steep walls, forming the end of a valley.
• 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 344:Of course it's going to be bad whever the clouds let loose, but up here pussyfooting along the perimeter of toothy cirques and dead drops of anywhere from eighty to three hundred feet, it would be a disaster.

Synonyms

• corrie
• cwm