terminus

Learned borrowing from Latin terminus (“boundary, limit”). Doublet of term, Terminus, and termon.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜːmɪnəs/

• Audio (US):

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terminus (plural termini or terminuses)

1. The end or final point of something.
2. The end point of a transportation system, or the town or city in which it is located.
   • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 171:

     My brother supposes they must have filled outside London, for at that time the furious terror of the people had rendered the central termini impossible.

   • 1951 June, “British Railways Summer Services”, in Railway Magazine, page 419:

     The arrangement for certain long-distance trains to call at suburban stations (saving passengers the trouble of journeying to the termini), which proved popular last year, is being extended.

   • 1991, “China”, in All-Asia Guide‎^[1], volume III, Hongkong: Review Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 45:

     Wuhan is the terminus for cruises to the Yanzi^{[sic – meaning Yangtze]} River gorges.

   • 2020 May 20, Paul Bigland, “East London Line's renaissance”, in Rail, page 49:

     Thirty-five years ago, many journeys around London meant having to pass through the centre of the capital. That's no longer the case, which takes real pressure off the city's termini as well as underground routes such as the Circle Line.

3. A boundary or border, or a post or stone marking such a boundary.

• origin

• → French: terminus
  • → Romanian: terminus

• minuters, muntries, muster in, numerist, run times, run-times, runtimes, unmiters, unmitres

Borrowed from English terminus, from Latin terminus. Doublet of terme.

• IPA^(key): /tɛʁ.mi.nys/

• Audio:

  (file)

terminus m (plural terminus)

1. (transport) terminus

• → Romanian: terminus

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

• termen (uncommon)
• termō (collateral form)

From Proto-Italic *termenos, from Proto-Indo-European *térmn̥ (“boundary”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τέρμα (térma, “a goal”), τέρμων (térmōn, “a border”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈter.mi.nus/, [ˈt̪ɛrmɪnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈter.mi.nus/, [ˈt̪ɛrminus]

terminus m (genitive terminī); second declension

1. a boundary, limit, end

   Synonyms: fīnis, līmes, mēta, dēfīnītiō, granicia

2. (Medieval Latin) word, term, definition

   Synonyms: verbum, dēfīnītiō

3. (Medieval Latin) due date, a time to convene

   Synonyms: diēs, conventus

4. (Medieval Latin) mode, wise, fashion, manner

   Synonyms: ratiō, modus, fōrma

5. term or period of time (as for example of probation)

Second-declension noun.

• “terminus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “terminus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• terminus 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)
• terminus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the empire reaches to the ends of the world: imperium orbis terrarum terminis definitur
    
  • to set bounds to a thing, limit it: terminis circumscribere aliquid
    
• “terminus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “terminus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Borrowed from French terminus, from English terminus, from Latin terminus.

terminus n (uncountable)

1. terminus (the end point of a transportation system)