Word Confusion: Ca., Circa

Posted September 15, 2014 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of 11 April 2021

Ca., and circa mean the same thing, and it’s all about the time. Literally about time, as in “oh, around about that year / decade / century / millenium…” Take your pick. It does allow you some leeway, timewise, so you don’t have to pick an exact minute, hour, month, or even year.

One example is rock ‘n roll. There’s no real, one, agreed-upon date when rock ‘n roll came into existence. It’s more of a…circa thing. Approximately, one huge around such-and-such a span of years that began with the music of slaves on the plantations and split into such streams as the blues, ragtime, and the native brass-bands which influenced the evolution of jazz with Jelly Roll Morton one of the early musicians and Louis Armstrong who taught musicians to improvise. It was the fun and energy of this music which evolved into the early rock and roll, a genre that continues to split and evolve today.

Word Confusions…

…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

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Ca., Circa
Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com
Part of Grammar:
Abbreviation; Preposition
Always used before a date and with a space between it and that date


Generally refers to a date

Around

About

In approximately

Abbreviation:
c., ca., ca, or cca., cir., circ.

Preposition:
Commonly used in genealogy and historical writing when dates of events are not known precisely

  • Used especially in approximate dates
Examples:
Abbreviation:
This event occurred ca. 1860s before the start of the Civil War.

Preposition:
It was built circa 1906.

Geoffrey Chaucer was born circa 1342.

Julius Caesar visited this area circa 50 B.C.

History of the Word:
Mid-19th century, originally from the Latin circa meaning around, round about, near, in the region of, about the time of.

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Vintage Philco Table Radio, AM Band, 5 Vacuum Tubes, Made In USA, Circa 1961, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/8380137346/a85a2907d2/&g;, by France1978, <https://visualhunt.com/author/397fb3>, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. Dance Floor (<http://www.fortepan.hu/_photo/download/fortepan_13968.jpg>) by ERKY-NAGY TIBOR is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Fortepan.

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