carrefour

American  

[kar-uh-foor, kar-uh-foor] / ˈkær əˌfʊər, ˌkær əˈfʊər /

noun

1. a crossroads; road junction.

2. a public square, plaza; marketplace.

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carrefour British  

/ ˈkærəˌfɔː /

noun

1. a rare word for crossroads

2. a public square, esp one at the intersection of several roads

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Etymology

Origin of carrefour

1475–85; < French; earlier quarefour, Middle French quarrefour < Late Latin quadrifurcum, neuter of quadrifurcus with four forks, equivalent to quadri- quadri- + -furcus -forked, adj. derivative of furcus, furca fork

Example Sentences

Daphnee Sylvestre and 2 months old baby is in her car in carrefour marotie’re 28 , needs help!

From New York Times • Jan. 19, 2010

All heads were raised, every ear as strained, when suddenly the boar burst out of the wood, and, instead of plunging into the opposite thicket made straight for the carrefour.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 359, September 1845 by Various

I come from meeting Monsieur Veelees upon the carrefour.

From Doctor Claudius, A True Story by Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)

At long intervals we would come to a keeper's lodge, standing quite alone in the middle of the forest, generally near a carrefour where several roads met.

From Chateau and Country Life in France by Waddington, Mary Alsop King

The farmers as a rule preferred the open carrefour for their transactions, despite its inconvenient jostlings and the danger from crossing vehicles, to the gloomy sheltered market-room provided for them.

From The Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy, Thomas