curtilage

C2+ Topic:House & Home

US /ˈkɜrtɪlɪdʒ/ UK /ˈkɜːtɪlɪdʒ/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the enclosed land immediately surrounding a house

The fence marked the boundary of the dwelling's curtilage.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the enclosed land... yard grounds precinct close enclosure

Word family

Related forms court courtyard

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman curtilage, from Old French cortillage, from cortil ('little court, enclosure'), a diminutive of cort ('court'), from Latin cohors ('enclosure, yard').

cortil Old French cohors Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

House & Home

# curtilage

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈkɜrtɪlɪdʒ
**IPA (UK):** ˈkɜːtɪlɪdʒ

## Meanings
1. the enclosed land immediately surrounding a house

## Examples
- The fence marked the boundary of the dwelling's curtilage.

## Synonyms
- yard
- grounds
- precinct
- close
- enclosure

## Related Forms
- court
- courtyard

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: cortil
- Root: cohors

## Etymology
From Anglo-Norman curtilage, from Old French cortillage, from cortil ('little court, enclosure'), a diminutive of cort ('court'), from Latin cohors ('enclosure, yard').

## AI Etymology
Curtilage is from Anglo-Norman curtilage, from Old French cortillage, from cortil ('little court, enclosure'), a diminutive of cort ('court'), from Latin cohors ('enclosure, yard'). The ancestry passes through Old French cortil and Latin cohors. In present use as a noun, it means "the enclosed land immediately surrounding a house", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include court and courtyard. The surrounding word family keeps the same base visible in court and courtyard, showing how the headword belongs to a larger cluster rather than standing alone.

## Topics
- House & Home

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curtilage

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