circuit

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜː.kɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝ.kɪt/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜ(ɾ).kɪʈ/, (proscribed) /sʌ(ɾ)ˈkjuːʈ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kɪt

From Middle English circuit, from Old French circuit, from Latin circuitus (“a going round”), from circuire (“go round”), from circum (“around”) + ire.

circuit (plural circuits)

1. The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution
   • 1904, Popular Science Monthly Volume 64, page 33:

     After 27 days the moon has made one circuit among the stars, moving from west to east. But in those 27 days the sun has likewise moved eastwardly, about 27 degrees. The moon, then, has to make one circuit and a little more in order to be again in the line joining the earth and sun, in order to be again 'new.'

   • 2011 October 4, Amanda MacMillan, “Depressed brains may hate differently”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     In the future, he says, a focus on the hate circuit may open new avenues for treatment – including new drugs and psychotherapies – that target this and other specific circuits in the brain.

2. The circumference of, or distance around, any space; the measure of a line around an area.
   • 1598, John Stow, A Survay of London:

     Circuit of the wall from the east to the West

3. That which encircles anything, as a ring or crown.
   • 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II, Act III, Scene I, line 351:

     And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage Until the golden circuit on my head, Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams, Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw.

4. The space enclosed within a circle, or within limits.
   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, Stanza 39, line 229:

     "Fondling," she saith, "since I have hemm'd thee here Within the circuit of this ivory pale, I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer: Feed where thou wilt, on mountain, or in dale; Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry, Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie."

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

     A circuit wide enclosed with goodliest trees.

6. (electricity) Enclosed path of an electric current, usually designed for a certain function.
   • 2017 October, “Snap Circuits Light”, in Snap Circuits‎^[2], Elenco, page 9:

     The parts within these series and parallel sub-circuits may be arranged in different ways without changing what the circuit does. Large circuits are made of combinations of smaller series and parallel circuits.

7. A regular or appointed trip from place to place as part of one's job
   • 2016 November 25, Jane Cornwell, “Bill Bailey: bird loving joker at the peak of his career”, in The Age:

     Having cut his teeth on London's take-no-prisoners comedy circuit he can handle hecklers too, sometimes with musical accompaniment; recent shows see him armed with a veritable chamber orchestra's worth of instruments, all of which he plays.

8. (law) The jurisdiction of certain judges within a state or country, whether itinerant or not.
9. (law) Abbreviation of circuit court.
10. (Methodism) The basic grouping of local Methodist churches.
11. (theater) A set of theaters among which the same acts circulate; especially common in the heyday of vaudeville.
12. (motor racing) A track on which a race in held; a racetrack
    • November 13 2016, Formula 1

      Interlagos is the 24th track Hamilton has won at in F1, which is more than any other driver in history. The only circuit on the current calendar that Hamilton hasn’t won at is Baku, which only joined the schedule this year.

13. (obsolete) circumlocution
    • 1572, Richard Huloet, Huloets Dictionarie:

      circuite of words.

14. (Scientology) A thought that unconsciously goes round and round in a person's mind and controls that person.
15. (graph theory) A closed trail.
16. A chain of cinemas/movie theaters.
    • 1990, Arthur A. Thompson, Alonzo J. Strickland, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, page 341:

      Mike Patrick commented on a theater chain he was considering buying and converting to 99 ¢ theaters with multiplex screens: I'm looking at a circuit of theaters in a major metropolitan area. Now the owner hasn't told me that it is for sale yet.

    • 2002, Allen Eyles, Keith Skone, Cinemas of Hertfordshire, page 61:

      It again featured Edgar Simmons (the architect and chairman), John Ray (the builder), L. E. Agar (managing director) and J. G. Wainwright (head of a separate circuit of cinemas).

17. A single completion of all of the exercises in a circuit training regime.

• (path or distance around a space): periplus (naval)

circuit (third-person singular simple present circuits, present participle circuiting, simple past and past participle circuited)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.
   • 1708, [John Philips], “Book II”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 65:

     perpetual Motion keep, / Quick circuiting ; nor dare they close their Eyes

2. (transitive, obsolete) To travel around.

   Having circuited the air.

A calque of Chinese 道 (dào) or 路 (lù).

circuit (plural circuits)

1. (historical) Various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China, including:
   1. The counties at the fringes of the empire, usually with a non-Chinese population, from the Han to the Western Jin.
   2. The 10 or so major provinces of the empire from the Tang to the early Yuan.
   3. Major provincial divisions from the Yuan to early Republican China.

• dao; lu, route (Later Jin to Song); tao (obsolete)

Borrowed from Latin circuitus.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [sirˈkujt]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [siɾˈkujt]

circuit m (plural circuits)

1. circuit

• “circuit”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “circuit”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “circuit” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “circuit” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Middle French circuit, from Old French circuit, from Latin circuitus.

• IPA^(key): /sɪrˈkʋi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cir‧cuit
• Rhymes: -i

circuit n (plural circuits, diminutive circuitje n)

1. (sports) racetrack

   Synonym: racebaan

2. (physics) electric circuit

   Synonym: stroomkring

3. (figuratively) exclusive group of individuals, clique, circle

   Synonyms: kliek, kring

• → Indonesian: sirkuit

From Latin circuitus.

• IPA^(key): /siʁ.kɥi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: circuits

circuit m (plural circuits)

1. circuit
2. tour

• “circuit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkɪr.ku.ɪt]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃir.ku.it̪]

circuit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of circueō

Borrowed from French circuit and Latin circuitus.

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃir.kuˈit/

circuit n (plural circuite)

1. circuit