Everyday LifeGreek → English
Chair
/tʃɛər/noun
A single seat with a back, or the person presiding over a meeting.
The Greek roots
κατά
katá
down
ἕδρα
hédra
seat, base
Literally: “a sitting-down place”
The story of the word
καθέδρα is the seat of authority, the bishop's chair, which is why a cathedral is simply the church that has one. Latin cathedra, worn down through Old French chaiere, gave English chair; the same French word, reshaped, came back separately as chaise. The person who chairs a meeting is named after the furniture, and the furniture after ἕδρα, which also names the faces of a polyhedron.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 13th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
cathedralchaisepolyhedronexedra
In a sentence
He pulled a chair over and sat down without being asked.
She has chaired the committee since March.