central

central

See also: Central

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centrālis, from centrum (“centre”), from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛntɹəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntɹəl

Adjective

central (comparative more central, superlative most central)

1. Being in the centre.
   • 1814, William Wordsworth, “The Parsonage”, in The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, volume V, London: Longman, published 1827, page 340:

     Egyption Thebes; / Tyre by the margin of the sounding waves; / Palmyra, central in the Desert, fell; / And the Arts died by which they had been raised.

   • 2013 July 27, “Putting down roots”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8846:

     The plantoid […] will have a central stem containing a reservoir of liquid plastic of a sort that can be frozen by ultraviolet light. Half a dozen cylindrical roots will branch off this stem, and the plastic will flow through these from the reservoir to the tip. As in a real root, the tip will be a specialised structure.

2. Having or containing the centre of something.
3. Being very important, or key to something.

   Synonyms: dominant, main, principal

   • 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport:

     Cleverley was a central figure as England took the lead inside three minutes. He saw his shot handled by Moldovan defender Simion Bulgaru and Lampard drilled home the penalty in trademark fashion.

   • 2020 May 6, Jim Steer, “Full Business Case offers fresh insight into HS2's prospects”, in Rail, page 51, photo caption:

     Passengers crowd in the main concourse at London Euston on January 28 2017, before boarding West Coast Main Line services. The urgent need to relieve congestion and improve reliability on the WCML remains central in the recently published Full Business Case for HS2.

4. (anatomy) Exerting its action towards the peripheral organs.

Derived terms

• central adiposity
• central angle
• central bank
• Central Bedfordshire
• central business district
• central canal
• central casting
• central chimpanzee
• central city
• Central City
• central dogma
• central excise
• Central Frontenac
• central government
• central heating
• Central Highlands
• centralisation
• centralise
• centrality
• central limit theorem
• central location test
• central locking
• centrally
• Central Manitoulin
• central moment
• centralmost
• central nervous system
• centralness
• Central Otago
• central pain syndrome
• central pawn
• Central Plain
• central planning
• central processing unit
• central reservation
• central retinal artery
• central simple algebra
• central sulcus
• central vacuum
• epicentral
• Mashonaland Central
• measure of central tendency
• mid-central
• multicentral
• pluricentral
• unicentral

 

Related terms

• center

Translations

being in the centre

Albanian: qendror (sq) Arabic: مَرْكَزِيّ‎ (markaziyy) Moroccan Arabic: وسْطاني‎ (wəsṭæni) Armenian: կենտրոնական (hy) (kentronakan) Azerbaijani: mərkəzi Bavarian: zenträu Belarusian: цэнтра́льны (centrálʹny) Bengali: কেন্দ্রীয় (kendrīy) Bulgarian: центра́лен (bg) (centrálen) Burmese: ဗဟို (my) (ba.hui) Catalan: central (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 中央 (zh) (zhōngyāng) Czech: ústřední (cs), centrální (cs) Danish: central (da) Dutch: centraal (nl) Estonian: tsentraalne, keskne Finnish: keski- (fi), keskus- French: central (fr) Friulian: centrâl Galician: central Georgian: ცენტრალური (cenṭraluri) German: zentral (de), mittig (de) Greek: κεντρικός (el) (kentrikós) Hebrew: מֶרְכָּזִי‎ (he) m (merkazí) Hindi: केंद्रीय (hi) (kendrīya) Hungarian: központi (hu) Indonesian: sentral (id) Italian: centrale (it) Japanese: 中央の (ja) (ちゅうおうの, chūō no), 中心の (ja) (ちゅうしんの, chūshin no) Kazakh: орталық (kk) (ortalyq) Khmer: កណ្ដាល (km) (kɑndaal) Korean: 중앙(中央) (ko) (jung'ang) (noun used attributively), 중심(中心) (ko) (jungsim) Kyrgyz: борбордук (ky) (borborduk) Lao: ກາງ (lo) (kāng) Latin: medius (la) Latvian: centrāls Lithuanian: centrinis (lt) Lombard: please add this translation if you can Macedonian: средишен (središen), централен (centralen) Malay: pusat, sentral Mongolian: Cyrillic: төв (mn) (töv), төвийн (mn) (töviin) Norwegian: Bokmål: sentral (no) Old English: middel Pashto: منځنی‎ (manźanay), مرکزي‎ (markazí) Persian: مرکزی‎ (fa) (markazi) Piedmontese: central Polish: centralny (pl) Portuguese: central (pt) Romanian: central (ro) Russian: центра́льный (ru) (centrálʹnyj) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: срѐдишњӣ, централан Roman: srèdišnjī (sh), centralan Slovak: ústredný (sk), centrálny Slovene: središčen, centralen Spanish: central (es) Swahili: katikati (sw) Swedish: central (sv) Tajik: марказӣ (tg) (markazī) Thai: ศูนย์กลาง (th) (sǔun-glaang), กลาง (th) (glaang) Turkish: merkezi (tr), orta (tr) Turkmen: merkezi Ukrainian: центра́льний (uk) (centrálʹnyj) Urdu: مرکزی‎ (markazī) Uyghur: مەركىزىي‎ (merkiziy) Uzbek: markaziy (uz) Vietnamese: trung ương (vi) Walloon: mîtrin (wa), cintrå (wa) Welsh: canolog (cy) Yiddish: צענטראַל‎ (tsentral)

being very important

Bavarian: zenträu Bulgarian: гла́вен (bg) (gláven) Catalan: central (ca) Finnish: keskeinen (fi) French: central (fr) Galician: central German: zentral (de) Greek: κεντρικός (el) (kentrikós) Hebrew: מרכזי‎ (he) m (merkazí) Indonesian: sentral (id) Italian: centrale (it), fondamentale (it) Japanese: 中心の (ja) (ちゅうしんの, chūshin no), 重要な (ja) (じゅうような, jūyō na) Macedonian: главен (glaven) Pashto: منځنی‎ (manźanay) Portuguese: central (pt) Romanian: central (ro) Sanskrit: मध्य (sa) (madhya) Spanish: central (es) Swahili: katikati (sw) Yiddish: צענטראַל‎ (tsentral)

having or containing the centre of something

Bavarian: zenträu Bulgarian: центра́лен (bg) (centrálen) Catalan: central (ca) Czech: centrální (cs) Dutch: centraal (nl) Estonian: keskne Finnish: keskus- German: zentral (de) Greek: κεντρικός (el) (kentrikós) Italian: centrale (it) Japanese: 中心の (ja) (chūshin no) Macedonian: средишен (središen), централен (centralen) Pashto: منځنی‎ (manźanay) Romanian: central (ro) Swahili: katikati (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Danish: (please verify) central (da) Esperanto: (please verify) centra French: (please verify) central (fr) Indonesian: (please verify) sentral (id), (please verify) pusat (id) Interlingua: (please verify) central Mandarin: (please verify) 中央的, (please verify) 中心的 Welsh: (please verify) canolog (cy)

Noun

central (plural centrals)

1. (especially US) centre

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centrālis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /sənˈtɾal/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /senˈtɾal/

Adjective

central (masculine and feminine plural centrals)

1. central (being in the centre)

Derived terms

• centralment
• centralitat
• centralitzar

Related terms

• centre

Noun

central f (plural centrals)

1. nexus; headquarters (non-military); central office
2. (electricity) power plant

Synonyms

• seu (“seat or headquarters”)

Antonyms

• sucursal (“branch office”)

Derived terms

types of central office

• central telefònica
• central telegràfica

types of power plant

• central elèctrica
• central eòlica
• central fotovoltaica
• central geotèrmica
• central heliotèrmica or central heliotermodinàmica
• central hidràulica or central hidroelèctrica
• central hidrotèrmica
• central mareomotriu
• central nuclear
• central solar
• central tèrmica or central termoelèctrica

Further reading

• “central” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “central”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “central” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “central” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centralis.

Noun

central c (singular definite centralen, plural indefinite centraler)

1. headquarters, place whence organizations are administrated

Declension

Declension of central

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	central	centralen	centraler	centralerne
genitive	centrals	centralens	centralers	centralernes

Adjective

central

1. central, being in the centre

Inflection

Inflection of central
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Common singular	central	—	—2
Neuter singular	centralt	—	—2
Plural	centrale	—	—2
Definite attributive1	centrale	—	—
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

References

• “central” in Den Danske Ordbog

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centrālis. Synchronically analysable as centre +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃.tʁal/

• (file)

Adjective

central (feminine centrale, masculine plural centraux, feminine plural centrales)

1. central

   Antonym: périphérique

Derived terms

• banque centrale
• chauffage central (“central heating”)
• Massif central
• rond central
• système nerveux central
• unité centrale
• vision centrale

Related terms

• centrale
• centralisateur
• centraliser
• centralisme
• centre m

 

Descendants

• Turkish: santral

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• raclent

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Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centrālis.

Adjective

central m or f (plural centrais)

1. central

Derived terms

• centralismo
• centralista
• centralizar

Related terms

• centro

Further reading

• “central” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

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Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centrālis.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Languedocien)

  (file)

Adjective

central m (feminine singular centrala, masculine plural centrals, feminine plural centralas)

1. central

Related terms

• centre

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centrālis.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sẽˈtɾaw/ [sẽˈtɾaʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sẽˈtɾal/ [sẽˈtɾaɫ]

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: cen‧tral

Adjective

central m or f (plural centrais)

1. central

Derived terms

• centralmente

Noun

central f (plural centrais)

1. centre
2. headquarters
3. (Portugal, soccer) back (player in a position behind most players on the team)

Derived terms

• central elétrica
• central nuclear

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French central, Latin centrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡ʃenˈtral]

Adjective

central m or n (feminine singular centrală, masculine plural centrali, feminine and neuter plural centrale)

1. central, pivotal, nodal

Declension

Declension of central

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	central		centrală	centrali	centrale
	definite	centralul		centrala	centralii	centralele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	central		centrale	centrali	centrale
	definite	centralului		centralei	centralilor	centralelor

Related terms

• centru

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /θenˈtɾal/ [θẽn̪ˈt̪ɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /senˈtɾal/ [sẽn̪ˈt̪ɾal]

• Audio (Latin America)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: cen‧tral

Adjective

central (plural centrales)

1. central

Derived terms

• banco central
• centralismo
• centralista
• centralizar
• centralmente
• precentral
• sistema nervioso central

Noun

central f (plural centrales)

1. headquarter
2. center
3. power station

   Synonym: centra eléctrica

Derived terms

• central eléctrica
• central nuclear

 

Related terms

• centrar
• céntrico
• centro

Further reading

• “central”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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Swedish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin centrālis, from centrum (“center point”) + -ālis.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

central

1. central, centralized, situated at the centre (of a town)
2. central, important

Declension

Inflection of central
Indefinite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative2
Common singular	central	centralare	centralast
Neuter singular	centralt	centralare	centralast
Plural	centrala	centralare	centralast
Masculine plural3	centrale	centralare	centralast
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular1	centrale	centralare	centralaste
All	centrala	centralare	centralaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic

Related terms

• busscentral
• centralafrikan (“a Central African”)
• centralafrikansk
• Centralafrikanska republiken (“Central African Republic”)
• Centralamerika (“Central America”)
• centralamerikansk
• centrala nervsystemet
• centralantenn
• centralasiatisk
• centralbank (“a central bank”)
• centralbibliotek
• centralbyråkrat
• centraldirigerad
• centraldirigering
• centraldispensär
• centralenhet
• Centraleuropa
• centraleuropeisk
• centralfigur
• centralförbund
• centralförening
• centralförvaltning
• centralgestalt
• centralisera
• centralisering
• centralism (“centralism”)
• centralistisk
• centralkassa
• centralkommitté
• centralkyrka
• centralkök
• centrallager
• centrallasarett
• centrallyrik
• centrallyrisk
• centrallås
• centralmakt
• centralmyndighet
• centralnämnd
• centralorgan
• centralorganisation
• centralort
• centralpalats
• centralprov
• centralpunkt
• centralradio
• centralredaktion
• centralregering
• centralsjukhus
• centralskola
• centralstation
• centralstimulantia
• centralstimulerande
• centralstyrd
• centralstyre
• centralstyrelse
• centralvärme

 

Etymology 2

Clipping of centralstation, or any other compound of the adjective.

Noun

central c

1. a central, a centre, a central station, a junction, a connection point, an electrical switchboard

Declension

Declension of central
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	central	centralen	centraler	centralerna
Genitive	centrals	centralens	centralers	centralernas

Related terms

• elcentral
• gruppcentral
• huvudcentral
• ledningscentral
• undercentral
• värmecentral

 

References

• central in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)