CURIO
What does "CURIO" mean?
A small, rare, or unusual object valued as a curiosity or collector's item.
Meanings
- An object that is interesting because it is rare, odd, or exotic rather than useful. The shelf was crowded with curios he had carried home from every port.
Did you know?
- 'Curio' isn't an ancient word: it's a Victorian-era abbreviation of 'curiosity', clipped down in the mid-1800s the same way 'photo' was clipped from 'photograph'.
Word origin
A 19th-century shortening of 'curiosity', from Latin 'curiosus' meaning careful or inquisitive, from 'cura', care.
Remember it
CURIO = CURIOsity with its tail cut off; the little object is just curiosity, shortened.
A little poem
Useless, dusty, kept for years on end-
a stranger's wonder I cannot lend.
couplet
What it teaches
Worth need not be useful; some things earn their shelf by being strange.
Quick facts
What does CURIO mean?
A small, rare, or unusual object valued as a curiosity or collector's item.
Is CURIO a valid word?
Yes — CURIO is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is CURIO?
CURIO has 5 letters and 3 syllables.
Where does CURIO come from?
A 19th-century shortening of 'curiosity', from Latin 'curiosus' meaning careful or inquisitive, from 'cura', care.
What can CURIO teach us?
Worth need not be useful; some things earn their shelf by being strange.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.