carrel

== English == === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkæɹəl/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɛɹəl/ Homophones: carol, Carol Rhymes: -æɹəl, -ɛɹəl Hyphenation: car‧rel === Etymology 1 === A variant of carol (“small closet or enclosure”), from Middle English carole (“round dance with singing; group of people dancing and singing in a circle; circular thing; braid, chain (?); stall for study or writing; writing table; etc.”) (possibly referring to the fact that the item encloses or surrounds the person using it): see further at carol. ==== Noun ==== carrel (plural carrels) (architecture, obsolete) Alternative spelling of carol (“a small closet or enclosure built against the inner side of a window of a monastery's cloister, to sit in for study”). (by extension) A partitioned space for reading or studying, often in a library. Near-synonym: cubicle (sometimes synonymous) ===== Alternative forms ===== carrell, carrol ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === Probably borrowed from Middle French carrelé (“type of fabric”), probably from carrelé (“having checks”), an adjective use of the past participle of carreler (“to pave; to tile”) (modern French carreler), from carrel + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs). Carrel is a variant of carreau (“square; tile”), from Old French quarel (“square block of stone”), from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, from Latin quadrus (“square”, adjective), probably from quattuor (“four”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”)) + -us (suffix forming adjectives). ==== Noun ==== carrel (plural carrels) (obsolete) A type of fabric used in the 16th and 17th centuries. ===== Alternative forms ===== carell, carrell === Etymology 3 === Possibly a variant of quarrel. ==== Noun ==== carrel (plural carrels) (obsolete) Synonym of quarrel (“a square-headed arrow”). ===== Translations ===== === References === === Further reading === carrel desk on Wikipedia.Wikipedia “carrel, n.”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.