English
curb
Curb comes from Middle French courbe ‘curve, curved object’, and goes back to Latin curvus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurvus1‘bent, crooked, curved’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600courbe1‘curve, curved object’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602curb1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English curb
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg, / Yea,…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurvusWiktionary, English curb‘bent, crooked, curved’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600courbeWiktionary, English curb‘curve, curved object’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602curbWiktionary, English curb. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg, / Yea,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to bend, curve, turn’
short, across, share, card, cross, cancer, screen, score, shirt, circle, crucial, circuit, scare, skirt, carnival, circulation, scar, cancellation, scrutiny, shrine, circus, crest, circa, corona, shear, scorpion, incarceration, shred, carnage, raffle, carcinoma, corolla, scorn, shrewd, crux, shard, carnal, cirque, circulate, riddance, 116 more
through Proto-Italic *korwos
through Latin curvus ‘bent, crooked, curved’
Today it means
noun A concrete margin along the edge of a road; a kerb (UK, Australia, New Zealand).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “curb”. 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 curvus / curb