charette (n.)
also charrette, c. 1400, "a chariot, a cart," from Old French charrete "wagon, small cart" (12c.), diminutive of charre, from Latin carrum, carrus "wagon" (see car).
The meaning "a concerted effort by concerned individuals to accomplish a given task by marathon work in a defined, short time" is attested by 1977, originally among architects, from French charette (by 1880s in this sense); it is said to have begun in this sense in the jargon of student architects hurrying to finish their models before they would have to be placed in the charrette which collected them for consideration.
Entries linking to charette
c. 1300, "wheeled vehicle," from Anglo-French carre, Old North French carre, from Vulgar Latin *carra, related to Latin carrum, carrus (plural carra), originally "two-wheeled Celtic war chariot," from Gaulish karros, a Celtic word (compare Old Irish and Welsh carr "cart, wagon," Breton karr "chariot"), from PIE *krsos, from root *kers- "to run." The Celtic-Latin word also made it into Greek, as karron "wagon with four wheels."
"From 16th to 19th c. chiefly poetic, with associations of dignity, solemnity, or splendour ..." [OED]. Used in U.S. by 1826 of railway freight carriages and of passenger coaches on a railway by 1830; by 1862 of streetcars or tramway cars. The extension to "automobile" is by 1896, but between 1831 to the first decade of 20c. the cars meant "railroad train." Car bomb is attested from 1972, in a Northern Ireland context. The Latin word also is the source of Italian and Spanish carro, French char.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to run."
It forms all or part of: car; career; cargo; caricature; cark; carpenter; carriage; carrier; carry; charabanc; charette; charge; chariot; concourse; concur; concurrent; corral; corridor; corsair; courant; courier; course; currency; current; curriculum; cursive; cursor; cursory; discharge; discourse; encharge; excursion; hussar; incur; intercourse; kraal; miscarry; occur; precursor; recourse; recur; succor.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek -khouros "running;" Latin currere "to run, move quickly;" Lithuanian karšiu, karšti "go quickly;"Old Irish and Middle Welsh carr "cart, wagon," Breton karr "chariot," Welsh carrog "torrent;" Old Norse horskr "swift."
updated on November 25, 2022
Dictionary entries near charette
charade
charcoal
charcuterie
chard
Chardonnay
charette
charge
charge d'affaires
chargeable
charger
chariot
