circulate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin circulatus, past participle of Late Latin circulare (“make circular, encircle”), a later collateral form of circulari (“form a circle (of men) around oneself”), from circulus (“a circle”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: sər'kü-lāt, IPA^(key): /ˈsɚ.kjʊˌleɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

circulate (third-person singular simple present circulates, present participle circulating, simple past and past participle circulated)

1. (intransitive) to move in circles or through a circuit
2. (transitive) to cause (a person or thing) to move in circles or through a circuit
3. to move from person to person, as at a party
4. to spread or disseminate

   to circulate money or gossip

5. to become widely known
6. (mathematics) Of decimals: to repeat.

Synonyms

• put about
• spread
• disseminate

Derived terms

• circulatable
• circulation
• circulative
• circulator
• cocirculate
• intercirculate
• miscirculate
• recirculate

 

Translations

to move in circles

• Bulgarian: обикалям (bg) (obikaljam), кръжа (bg) (krǎža)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 环绕 (zh)

• Czech: obíhat
• Esperanto: cirkuladi
• Finnish: kiertää (fi), pyöriä (fi)
• French: circuler (fr)
• Galician: circular (gl)
• Hebrew: הסתובב (he) (histovév)
• Italian: circolare (it)
• Macedonian: кружи (kruži)
• Portuguese: circular (pt)
• Romanian: cercui (ro), a face cercuri
• Spanish: circular (es)
• Swedish: cirkulera (sv)

to cause to move in circles

• Finnish: kierittää, pyörittää (fi)
• Hebrew: סובב (he) (sovév)

to move from person to person

• Finnish: kiertää (fi)
• Macedonian: кружи (kruži)

to spread or disseminate

• Bulgarian: разпространявам (bg) (razprostranjavam)
• Czech: šířit (cs)
• Finnish: levittää (fi)
• Hebrew: הפיץ (hefíts)
• Irish: scaip
• Ottoman Turkish: یایمق (yaymak)
• Turkish: yaymak (tr)

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

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} cirkuli (eo)
• French: ^{(please verify)} circuler (fr)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} circular (es)

Further reading

• “circulate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “circulate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

circulate

1. inflection of circulare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

circulate f pl

1. feminine plural of circulato

Latin

Verb

circulāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of circulō

Spanish

Verb

circulate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of circular combined with te