English
campus
Campus comes from Latin campus ‘field’.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English campus
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1932, The Syllabus: “They hold sessions regularly and “campus” women for staying…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcampusWiktionary, English campus‘field’
- Englishearliest quotation 1932campusWiktionary, English campus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1932, The Syllabus: “They hold sessions regularly and “campus” women for staying…”
first attested First used in its current sense in reference to Princeton University in the 1770s (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with campus, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- ‘to bend, to curve’
- camera ← καμάρα ← *kamarā- ← *kmárati
- chamber ← chambre ← chambre ← cambra ← camera
- chimney ← chymeneye ← cheminee ← camīnāta ← camīnus
- cabaret ← cambret ← camberet ← chambre ← cambra
- kam ← cam ← cam ← cam ← *kambos
- camaraderie ← camarade ← camarada ← cámara ← camara
- gam ← gamba ← gamba ← καμπή ← *kampā́
- skimp ← *skimpijaną ← *(s)ḱh₂emb-
- cantonment ← cantonnement ← cantonner ← canton ← canton
- camber ← cambre ← camurum ← camur ← *kameros
- jamb ← jambe ← jambe ← gamba ← καμπή
- gamba ← καμπή ← *kampā́ ← *kh₂emp-
46 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun The grounds or property of a school, college, university, business, church, or hospital, often understood to include buildings and other structures.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “campus”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin campus / campus