Etymograph

English

corridor

Corridor comes from French corridor ‘corridor, passage’, from Italian correre ‘to run’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱers-1‘to run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱr̥s-é-ti1reconstructedzero-grade thematic present of *ḱers-
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*korzō1‘to run’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurrere1
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentcorrere2‘to run’
  6. Italianc. 1300–presentcorridore2‘long passage’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentcorridor2‘corridor, passage’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1915corridor2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Italian correre
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English corridor
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1915, George A. Birmingham pseudonym; James Ow, New York: “There is an hour or two, after the passengers…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱers-Wiktionary, Italian correre‘to run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱr̥s-é-tiWiktionary, Italian correrereconstructedzero-grade thematic present of *ḱers-
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*korzōWiktionary, Italian correre‘to run’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurrereWiktionary, Italian correre
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentcorrereWiktionary, English corridor‘to run’
  6. Italianc. 1300–presentcorridoreWiktionary, English corridor‘long passage’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentcorridorWiktionary, English corridor‘corridor, passage’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1915corridorWiktionary, English corridor. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1915, George A. Birmingham pseudonym; James Ow, New York: “There is an hour or two, after the passengers…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- ‘to run’

career, charge, carry, rush, cargo, hurry, carrier, occurrence, carriage, intercourse, carousel, recourse, chariot, caricature, recursive, hurrah, cursory, corral, carrack, 34 more

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥s-é-ti

discourse, concurrent, recurrent, incursion, concourse, 7 more

through Proto-Italic *korzō ‘to run’

course, current, occur, currency, curriculum, incur, precursor, concur, cursor, recursion, recur, corsair, courant, hussar, succour, 24 more

through Italian correre ‘to run’

courier

Today it means

noun A narrow hall or passage with rooms leading off it, as in a building or in a railway carriage.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “corridor”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Italian correre. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- / corridor

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