curious

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled Cur’us

US /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ UK /ˈkjʊə.ɹi.əs/ See IPA manual

Freq #2255

Meanings

1

adj
Wanting to know or learn about something.

Children are naturally curious about the world around them.
2

adj
Strange, unusual, or hard to explain.

There was a curious smell coming from the kitchen.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · wanting to know or learn... inquiring inquisitive

2 adj · strange, unusual, or hard... odd strange peculiar

Word family

Forms curiousnessincurious

Derived forms bi-curiousbicuriouscuriouslycuriousnessepicurioushomocuriousindy-curiousnoncuriousovercuriouspancuriouspolycuriousqueerious

Related forms curio curiosityincuriousincuriouslyincuriousness

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

curious mixture of
an unusual or intriguing combination of things

Fixed expression

Simplified etymology

Curious comes from Latin curiosus “careful,” derived from cura “care,” and entered English with the sense “eager to know or learn.” It later acquired senses including “skilfully made,” “precise,” and “discerning,” while the now-common meaning “strange or unusual” appeared early in the 18th century.

Etymology

From Middle English curious, from Old French curius, from Latin cūriōsus. The English word is cognate with Italian curioso, Occitan curios, Portuguese curioso, and Spanish curioso.

*kʷeys- Proto-Indo-European curious Middle English curius Old French cūriōsus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# curious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkjʊə.ɹi.əs/
**Frequency rank:** 2255

## Meanings
1. Wanting to know or learn about something.
2. Strange, unusual, or hard to explain.

## Examples
- Children are naturally curious about the world around them.
- There was a curious smell coming from the kitchen.

## Derived Forms
- bi-curious
- bicurious
- curiously
- curiousness
- epicurious
- homocurious
- indy-curious
- noncurious
- overcurious
- pancurious
- polycurious
- queerious

## Related Forms
- curio
- curiosity
- incurious
- incuriously
- incuriousness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kʷeys-
- Root: curious
- Root: curius
- Root: cūriōsus
- Affix: -ous - full of

## Etymology
From Middle English curious, from Old French curius, from Latin cūriōsus. The English word is cognate with Italian curioso, Occitan curios, Portuguese curioso, and Spanish curioso.

## AI Etymology
curious comes from Middle English curious, from Old French curius, from Latin cūriōsus. The English word is cognate with Italian curioso, Occitan curios, Portuguese curioso, and Spanish curioso. The historical chain includes Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys-, Middle English curious, Old French curius, Latin cūriōsus. Current senses include Wanting to know or learn about something and Strange, unusual, or hard to explain. English relatives and later formations include bi-curious, bicurious, curiously, curio, curiosity.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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