carrefour

noun

car·​re·​four ˌker-ə-ˈfu̇r 

ˌka-rə-

1

: crossroads

2

: square, plaza

the farmers … preferred the open carrefour for their transactions

—Thomas Hardy

Synonyms

• corner
• crossing
• crossroad
• crossway(s)
• intersection
• junction

Examples of carrefour in a Sentence

our hotel in Montreal was adjacent to a noisy carrefour

Recent Examples on the Web

But in carrefours all over the world, migrants talk to each other in this way, trading hope, disappointment, tenacity, pain. —Cynthia Gorney, National Geographic, 25 June 2019

Youssouf, who’s been in Spain for 14 years, calls Lepe a carrefour, a crossroads. —Cynthia Gorney, National Geographic, 25 June 2019

Word History

Etymology

Middle French, from Late Latin quadrifurcum, neuter of quadrifurcus having four forks, from Latin quadri- + furca fork

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Geographical Definition

Carrefour

geographical name

Carre·​four ˌkär-ˈfu̇r 

residential city west of Port-au-Prince in southern Haiti population 430,000