curtain

English

Girl surrounded by curtains

Etymology

From Old French cortine, from Latin cortina.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kû(r)'tən, IPA: /ˈkɜː(r)tən/, X-SAMPA: /"k3:(r)t@n/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)tən

Noun

curtain (plural curtains)

1. A piece of cloth covering a window to keep the sun from shining inside.
2. A similar piece of cloth that separates the audience and the stage in a theater.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, The Lisson Grove Mystery^[1]:

     “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what [...] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”

3. (fortifications) The flat area of wall which connects two bastions or towers; the main area of a fortified wall.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1, p. 220:

     Captain Rense, beleagring the Citie of Errona for us, [...] caused a forcible mine to be wrought under a great curtine of the walles [...].

4. (euphemistic, also "final curtain") death
   • 1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

     For life is quite absurd

     And death's the final word

     You must always face the curtain with a bow.

Related terms

• curtain call
• final curtain

Translations

piece of cloth covering a window

• Albanian: perde (sq) m
• Arabic: ستارة (ar) (sitāra) f
• Armenian: վարագույր (hy) (varaguyr)
• Asturian: cortina (ast) f
• Azeri: pərdə (az)
• Bulgarian: перде (bg) (perde) n, завеса (bg) (zavesa) f
• Catalan: cortina (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 窗簾 (cmn), 窗帘 (cmn) (chuānglián), 簾子 (cmn), 帘子 (cmn) (liánzi),

• Czech: závěs (cs) m
• Danish: gardin (da) n
• Dutch: gordijn (nl) n
• Esperanto: kurteno (eo)
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: gardina (fo) f, gluggatjald (fo) n
• Finnish: verho (fi)
• French: rideau (fr) m
• Galician: cortina (gl) f
• Georgian: ფარდა (ka) (p'arda)
• German: Vorhang (de) m, Gardine (de) f
• Greek: κουρτίνα (el) (kourtína) f
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: וילון (he) (vilon) m
• Hindi: परदा (hi) (parda) m
• Hungarian: függöny (hu)
• Icelandic: gluggatjald (is) n, gardína (is) f
• Ido: kurteno (io)
• Irish: cuirtín (ga) m
• Italian: tenda (it) f, tappezzeria (it) f, drappo (it) m, drappeggio (it) m, tendina (it) f
• Japanese: カーテン (ja) (kāten)
• Khmer: វាំងនន (km) (veang nɔɔ nɔɔ)
• Korean: 커튼 (ko) (keoteun)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: perde (ku) f

  Sorani: په‌رده‌ (ku)

• Latvian: aizkars (lv) m
• Lithuanian: užuolaida (lt) f

• Luxembourgish: Rido (lb) f
• Macedonian: завеса (mk) (závesa) f, перде (mk) (pérde) n
• Malay: tirai (ms), tabir (ms)
• Norwegian: gardin (no) m and f
• Novial: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: cortina (oc) f
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: پرده (fa) (parde)
• Polish: zasłona (pl) f
• Portuguese: cortina (pt) f
• Romanian: perdea (ro) f, draperie (ro) f, perdele f pl
• Romansch: sumbrival (rm) m (Rumantsch Grischun), umbrival (rm) m (Sursilvan), tenda (rm) f (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader), curtgina (rm) f (Sursilvan)
• Russian: штора (ru) (štóra) f, занавеска (ru) (zanavéska) f, гардина (ru) (gardína) f
• Scottish Gaelic: cùirtear (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: (Ekavian) за̑веса (sh) f, (Ijekavian) за̑вјеса (sh) f; за́стор (sh) m

  Roman: (Ekavian) zȃvesa (sh) f, (Ijekavian) zȃvjesa (sh) f; zástor (sh) m

• Slovak: opona (sk) f
• Slovene: zavésa (sl) f
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: cortina (es) f
• Swahili: pazia (sw)
• Swedish: gardin (sv) c
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: తెర (te) (tera)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: perde (tr)
• Urdu: پردہ (ur) (parda) m
• Uzbek: parda (uz)
• Venetian: coltrìna f
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: llen (cy) f, llenni (cy) f pl
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

piece of cloth in a theater

• Armenian: վարագույր (hy) (varaguyr)
• Bulgarian: завеса (bg) (zavesa) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幕布 (cmn) (mùbù)

• Czech: opona (cs) f
• Danish: tæppe (da) n
• Dutch: doek (nl) n
• Esperanto: kurteno (eo)
• Finnish: esirippu (fi)
• Georgian: ფარდა (ka) (p'arda)
• German: Vorhang (de) m
• Greek: αυλαία (el) (avlaía) f
• Icelandic: leikhústjald (is) n, tjald (is) n
• Irish: brat (ga) m
• Italian: sipario (it) m
• Japanese: 幕 (まく, maku), 緞帳 (どんちょう, donchō) with vertical move, 引き幕　(ひきまく hikimaku) with horizontal move
• Macedonian: кулиса (mk) (kulísa) f

• Persian: پرده (fa) (parde)
• Polish: kurtyna (pl) f
• Portuguese: cortina (pt) f
• Romanian: cortină (ro) f
• Russian: занавес (ru) (zánaves) m
• Scottish Gaelic: cùirtear (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: (Ekavian) за̑веса (sh) f, (Ijekavian) за̑вјеса (sh) f ; за́стор (sh) m

  Roman: (Ekavian) zȃvesa (sh) f, (Ijekavian) zȃvjesa (sh) f ; zástor (sh) m

• Slovak: opona (sk) f
• Slovene: zavésa (sl) f
• Spanish: cortina (es) f, telón (es) m
• Swahili: pazia (sw)
• Swedish: ridå (sv) c
• Turkish: perde (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: serambi, korden, layar
• Kurdish: perde f

Verb

curtain (third-person singular simple present curtains, present participle curtaining, simple past and past participle curtained)

1. To cover (a window) with a curtain; to hang curtains.

Translations

to cover with a curtain

• Finnish: verhota (fi)
• Polish: zasłonić (pl)
• Portuguese: cobrir com cortina, acortinar, encortinar

• Swahili: pazia (sw)
• Turkish: perdelemek (tr)

See also

• blind
• drape
• Curtain on Wikipedia.Wikipedia