wikipedia
English
Etymology
French for "bottom of the bag": cul < Latin culus ("bottom") + de#French|de ("of") + sac < Latin saccus < Greek �άκκο� ("sack", "bag") < Hebrew שק (saq, "sack").
Pronunciation
audio|en-us-cul-de-sac.ogg|Audio (US)
Noun
cul-de-sac (plural: cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac)
- A blind alley or dead end street.
- US: A circular area at the end of a dead end street to allow cars to turn around, designed so children can play on street, with little or no through-traffic.
- An impasse.
#:quotations:
#:*"Physics seems, in fact, to have got itself into a cul-de-sac, obsessing over theories so mathematically abstruse that nobody even knows how to test them." — National Review, February 14, 2005
- medicine A sacklike cavity or tube open at one end only.
Translations
trans-top|a blind alley
Finnish: umpikuja
French: cul-de-sac m, impasse f
German: Sackgasse f
trans-bottom
trans-top|a circular area at the end of a dead end street
German: Wendeplatte f, Wendekreis m
trans-bottom
trans-top|an impasse
Finnish: umpikuja
French: impasse f
German: Sackgasse f
trans-bottom
trans-top|medicine: a sacklike cavity or tube
trans-bottom
Category:English nouns with irregular plurals
fr:cul-de-sac
io:cul-de-sac
ru:cul-de-sac
vi:cul-de-sac
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