curt

See also: Curt

English

Etymology

From the Latin curtus (“shortened”). Cognate with Dutch kort, German kurz, Galician curto, French court, Italian corto, Portuguese curto, and Spanish corto. Doublet of short.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɝt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɜːt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t
• Homophone: Kurt

Adjective

curt (comparative curter, superlative curtest)

1. Brief or terse, especially to the point of being rude.

   Synonyms: brusque, short

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “XVIII AND XIX”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     Again I begged her to keep an eye on her blood pressure and not get so worked up, and once more she brushed me off, this time with a curt request that I would go and boil my head. [...] Beginning with a curt “Listen, Buster,” she proceeded to sketch out with admirable clearness the salient points in the situation as she envisaged it […]

2. Short or concise.

Translations

brief or terse, especially to the point of being rude

• Bulgarian: лаконичен (bg) (lakoničen)
• Catalan: brusc (ca), eixut (ca)
• Czech: úsečný, odměřený (cs), strohý (cs)
• Finnish: töykeä (fi), tyly (fi)
• French: abrupt (fr) m, sommaire (fr)
• German: brüsk (de), knapp (de), kurzangebunden, barsch (de), schroff (de)
• Hungarian: kurta (hu)
• Irish: gearr-abartha, gearrbhéalach
• Macedonian: о́стар (óstar)
• Russian: отрывистый (ru) (otryvistyj), немногословный (ru) (nemnogoslovnyj); (of a remark) односложный (ru) (odnosložnyj)
• Swedish: brysk (sv), tvär (sv)

short or concise

• Bulgarian: кратък (bg) (kratǎk), сбит (bg) (sbit)
• Czech: strohý (cs), bryskní, stručný (cs)
• Finnish: lyhyt (fi), tiivis (fi), niukkasanainen
• Galician: curto (gl)
• German: kurz (de), kurzgefasst (de)
• Hungarian: rövid (hu), rövidített (hu), tömör (hu)
• Macedonian: кра́ток (krátok), зби́ен (zbíen), сте́гнат (stégnat), ла́конски (lákonski)
• Russian: лаконичный (ru) (lakoničnyj), сжатый (ru) (sžatyj)
• Spanish: corto (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} kortaf (nl)
• German: ^{(please verify)} barsch (de) (1)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} sbrigativo (it)

Verb

curt (third-person singular simple present curts, present participle curting, simple past and past participle curted)

1. (obsolete, rare) To cut, cut short, shorten.
   • 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas], “(please specify the page)”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC:

     Curting thy life, hee takes thy Card away.

Derived terms

• curtly
• curtness
• curtail
• curtailment
• kirtle

Related terms

• shirt
• short
• skirt

References

• An historical dictionary

Anagrams

• crut

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin curtus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈkurt]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈkuɾt]

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: kurd
• Rhymes: -uɾt

Adjective

curt (feminine curta, masculine plural curts, feminine plural curtes)

1. short

   Antonym: llarg

Derived terms

• a curt termini
• acurtar
• curt de gambals
• curtament
• curtmetratge
• ona curta

 

Further reading

• “curt” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “curt”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “curt” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “curt” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin curtus.

Adjective

curt m (feminine curte, masculine plural curts, feminine plural curtis)

1. short

Related terms

• scurtâ

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin curtus.

Adjective

curt m (feminine singular curta, masculine plural cursc, feminine plural curtes)

1. brief, short

Related terms

• scurter

Middle English

Noun

curt

1. Alternative form of court

Old French

Noun

curt oblique singular, f (oblique plural curz or curtz, nominative singular curt, nominative plural curz or curtz)

1. (Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of cort