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carrel

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carrel¹

  • /ˈkæɹəl/ UK
  • /ˈkɛɹəl/ US

Sounds like carol, Carol · Rhymes with -æɹəl, -ɛɹəl

Where it comes from

A variant of carol (“small closet or enclosure”), from Middle English carole (“round dance with singing; group of people dancing and singing in a circle; circular thing; braid, chain (?); stall for study or writing; writing table; etc.”) (possibly referring to the fact that the item encloses or surrounds the person using it): see further at carol.

noun carrels · carrell · carrol

  1. alternative, obsolete Alternative spelling of carol (“a small closet or enclosure built against the inner side of a window of a monastery's cloister, to sit in for study”). And in every wyndowe iij Pewes or Carrells, where every one of the old Monks had his carrell, severall by himselfe, that, when they had dyned, they dyd resorte to that place of Cloister and there studyed upon there books, every one in his carrell, all the after nonne, unto evensong tyme. […] All the
  2. broadly A partitioned space for reading or studying, often in a library. Near-synonym: cubicle (sometimes synonymous)

    Similar: cubicle

carrel²

  • /ˈkæɹəl/ UK
  • /ˈkɛɹəl/ US

Sounds like carol, Carol · Rhymes with -æɹəl, -ɛɹəl

Where it comes from

Probably borrowed from Middle French carrelé (“type of fabric”), probably from carrelé (“having checks”), an adjective use of the past participle of carreler (“to pave; to tile”) (modern French carreler), from carrel + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs). Carrel is a variant of carreau (“square; tile”), from Old French quarel (“square block of stone”), from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, from Latin quadrus (“square”, adjective), probably from quattuor (“four”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”)) + -us (suffix forming adjectives).

noun carrels · carell · carrell

  1. obsolete A type of fabric used in the 16th and 17th centuries.

carrel³

  • /ˈkæɹəl/ UK
  • /ˈkɛɹəl/ US

Sounds like carol, Carol · Rhymes with -æɹəl, -ɛɹəl

Where it comes from

Possibly a variant of quarrel.

noun carrels

  1. obsolete Synonym of quarrel (“a square-headed arrow”).

    Similar: quarrel

Carrel⁴

proper noun Carrels

  1. A surname.

Translations

Every language

noun cubicle or partitioned space for reading or studying

日本語キャレル kyareru
Françaiscarrel
Русскийкаррел karrel

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MLA

"carrel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/carrel. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

carrel. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/carrel

Chicago

"carrel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/carrel.

BibTeX
@misc{carrel_2026,
  title = {carrel},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/carrel},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}