campus

English Online Dictionary. What means campus‎? What does campus mean?

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin campus (“field”). Doublet of camp and champ.

First used in its current sense in reference to Princeton University in the 1770s.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæmpəs/, /ˈkæmpʊs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkæmpəs/

Noun

campus (plural campuses or campusses)

1. The grounds or property of a school, college, university, business, church, or hospital, often understood to include buildings and other structures.
2. An institution of higher education and its ambiance.

Usage notes

• The Latinate plural form campi is sometimes used, particularly with respect to colleges or universities; however, it is sometimes frowned upon. By contrast, the common plural form campuses is universally accepted.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

campus (third-person singular simple present campuses or campusses, present participle campusing or campussing, simple past and past participle campused or campussed)

1. To confine (a student) to campus as a punishment.
2. (climbing) To use a campus board, or to climb without feet as one would on a campus board.

Asturian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin campus. Compare the inherited doublet campu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkampus/ [ˈkãm.pus]
• Rhymes: -ampus
• Syllabification: cam‧pus

Noun

campus m (plural campus)

1. campus (grounds or property of a school, etc)

Basque

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish campus, from Latin campus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kampus̺/ [kãm.pus̺]
• Rhymes: -ampus̺, -us̺
• Hyphenation: cam‧pus

Noun

campus inan

1. campus

Declension

Further reading

• “campus”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin campus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈkam.pus]

Noun

campus m (invariable)

1. campus

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English campus, from Latin campus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑm.pʏs/
• Hyphenation: cam‧pus

Noun

campus m (plural campussen, diminutive campusje n)

1. campus

Derived terms

• campusuniversiteit

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin campus. Doublet of camp and the inherited champ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑ̃.pys/

Noun

campus m (plural campus)

1. campus (grounds of a university)

Descendants

• → Romanian: campus
• → Turkish: kampüs

Further reading

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

Latin

Etymology

Traditionally, from Proto-Italic *kampos, from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ém-po-s, from *kh₂emp- (“to bend, curve; smooth”), making it an exact cognate of Lithuanian kam̃pas (“corner”) and Ancient Greek καμπ- (kamp-, “bend”). Compare camur (“curved, bent”) for the root without a -p- suffix.

Alternatively, perhaps an agricultural term borrowed from a substrate language; this would explain the irregular correspondences between Latin and Greek.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkam.pus/, [ˈkämpʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkam.pus/, [ˈkämpus]

Noun

campus m (genitive campī); second declension

1. Open flat level ground: a plain, a natural field.

   Campus Mārtius ― The Field of Mars

2. (literary) Any flat or level surface.
   • Plautus, Trin., 4, 1, 15:

     ...campī natantēs...

3. The comitia centuriāta, which met on the Campus Mārtius.
4. A field of action: scope.
5. A field of debate: a topic.
6. An opportunity.
7. The produce of a field.
8. (New Latin) The campus of a university, college, or business.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Further reading

• “campus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “campus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "campus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• campus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Lewis, Charleton & al. "campus" in A Latin Dictionary.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• câmpus

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin campus. Compare the inherited doublet campo.

Pronunciation

• Homophone: campos

Noun

campus m (plural campi or (nonstandard) campus)

1. campus

Romanian

Alternative forms

• кампус (campus) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Etymology

Borrowed from French campus, English campus, from Latin campus. Doublet of the inherited câmp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkam.pus/
• Rhymes: -ampus
• Hyphenation: cam‧pus

Noun

campus n (plural campusuri)

1. campus

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin campus. Compare the inherited doublet campo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkampus/ [ˈkãm.pus]
• Rhymes: -ampus
• Syllabification: cam‧pus

Noun

campus m (plural campus)

1. campus

Further reading

• “campus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Welsh

Etymology

From camp (“feat, accomplishment”) +‎ -us.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈkampɨ̞s/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈkampɪs/

Adjective

campus (feminine singular campus, plural campus, equative campused, comparative campusach, superlative campusaf)

1. excellent, splendid

   Synonyms: gorchestol, rhagorol, penigamp, ardderchog, gwych

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