rotund

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rotundus (“round”), from Latin rota (“wheel”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreth₂- (“to run, to roll”). Doublet of round, which arrived through Old French/Anglo-Norman.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹəʊˈtʌnd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹoʊˈtʌnd/

Adjective

rotund (comparative rotunder, superlative rotundest)

1. Having a round, spherical or curved shape; circular; orbicular.
   • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 23, in Crime out of Mind‎:

     He was a plump little man and we had been walking uphill at a pace—set by him—far too rapid for his short legs. He breathed stertorously, and half the drops which glimmered on his rotund face were not rain but sweat.

   • 1992, Hal R. Varian, Microeconomic Analysis (3rd ed.), W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., →ISBN, p. 96–97

     Convex preferences may have indifference curves that exhibit “flat spots,” while strictly convex preferences have indifference curves that are strictly rotund.

2. Having a round body shape; portly or pudgy; obese.
3. (of a sound) Full and rich; orotund; sonorous; full-toned.

Synonyms

• (having a round body shape): chubby, tubby; see also Thesaurus:overweight
• (full and rich sound): booming, resounding; see also Thesaurus:sonorous

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “rotund”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
• Notes:

Anagrams

• untrod

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rotundus. First attested in 1917. Compare the inherited doublet rodó.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Adjective

rotund (feminine rotunda, masculine plural rotunds, feminine plural rotundes)

1. emphatic
2. complete, flat out, downright

Derived terms

• rotundament

Related terms

• rotunditat

References

Further reading

• “rotund” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “rotund” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “rotund” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Romanian

Alternative forms

• rătund — regional, dated

Etymology

Per most sources, borrowed from Latin rotundus, but alternatively may represent a crossing of older Romanian rătund (inherited from the Late Latin variant retundus) with words like roată (“wheel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /roˈtund/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

rotund m or n (feminine singular rotundă, masculine plural rotunzi, feminine and neuter plural rotunde)

1. round

Declension

Derived terms

• rotunji

References

• rotund in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)