carl C2+ Topic:People & Society US /kɑrl/ UK /kɑːl/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun a peasant or common man; a churlish fellow (archaic) The lord treated the carl with open contempt. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a peasant or common man; a... peasantchurlboorcommonerrusticfellow Word family Related forms churlcarline Etymology AI details From Old Norse karl ('man, freeman'), cognate with Old English ceorl ('freeman, commoner') and English churl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz. karl Old Norse *karilaz Proto-Germanic View etymology graph -> Topics People & Society Register & Style External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # carl **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /kɑrl/ **IPA (UK):** /kɑːl/ ## Meanings 1. a peasant or common man; a churlish fellow (archaic) ## Examples - The lord treated the carl with open contempt. ## Synonyms - peasant - churl - boor - commoner - rustic - fellow ## Related Forms - churl - carline ## Roots and Affixes - Root: karl - Root: *karilaz ## Etymology From Old Norse karl ('man, freeman'), cognate with Old English ceorl ('freeman, commoner') and English churl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz. ## AI Etymology Carl comes from Old Norse karl ('man, freeman'), cognate with Old English ceorl ('freeman, commoner') and English churl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz. The historical trail runs through karl in Old Norse and *karilaz in Proto-Germanic. Used as a noun, carl now means "a peasant or common man; a churlish fellow (archaic)", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as churl and carline. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English. ## Topics - People & Society - Register & Style markdown