curt

See also: cûrt and 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 — see also terse

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) Portuguese: brusco (pt), seco (pt), áspero (pt) Russian: отрывистый (ru) (otryvistyj), немногословный (ru) (nemnogoslovnyj); (of a remark) односложный (ru) (odnosložnyj) Spanish: seco (es), cortante (es), brusco (es), parco (es), telegráfico (es), escueto (es), curto (es) Swedish: brysk (sv), tvär (sv), korthuggen (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) Portuguese: curto (pt), conciso (pt), sucinto (pt) Russian: лаконичный (ru) (lakoničnyj), сжатый (ru) (sžatyj) Spanish: corto (es), conciso (es), parco (es), lacónico (es), escueto (es), sucinto (es), curto (es) m

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, translated by Josuah Sylvester, 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): (Valencia) [ˈkuɾt]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (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 [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “curt”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “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 Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *kurt, which is a borrowing from Latin curtus.

Adjective

curt

1. short

Inflection

Declension of curt (a-stem)

strong declension
case	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	curt	curt	curt	curta, curte
accusative	curtan, curten	curta	curt	curta, curte
genitive	curtes	curtero	curtes	curtero
dative	curtin, curtemo	curtero	curtin, curtemo	curton
weak declension
case	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	curto	curta	curta	curton
accusative	curton	curton	curta	curton
genitive	curtin	curton	curtin	curtono
dative	curtin	curton	curtin	curton

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: curt, cort
  • Dutch: kort
    • Afrikaans: kort
    • Negerhollands: kort, kot
    • Skepi Creole Dutch: kort

References

• “kurt”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Hungarian kurta.

Adjective

curt m or n (feminine singular curtă, masculine plural curți, feminine/neuter plural curte)

1. short-tailed

Declension

Declension of curt

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	curt		curtă		curți	curte
	definite	curtul		curta		curții	curtele
genitive- dative	indefinite	curt		curte		curți	curte
	definite	curtului		curtei		curților	curtelor

Noun

curt m (uncountable)

1. short-tailed animal

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	curt	curtul
genitive-dative	curt	curtului
vocative	curtule

References

• curt in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN