curfew (English)

Where does "curfew" come from?

The word 'curfew' originated from the Old French phrase 'cuevre-fu', a command to 'cover the fire' to prevent house fires during the night. This became the Middle English 'curfu', referring to the evening bell that signaled citizens to bank their hearths. Over time, the meaning shifted from the physical act of extinguishing embers to the modern regulation requiring people to remain indoors by a specific hour.

Full etymology tree

• curfew (English), 'Any regulation requiring people to be off the streets and in their homes by a certain time.'
  • inherited from curfu (Middle English), 'curfew (feudal regulation)'
    • borrowed from cuevre-feu (Old French)
      • compound of covrir (Old French), 'to cover'
        • inherited from cooperīre (Latin), 'inflection of cooperiō:'
      • compound of fu (Old French), 'fire'
        • inherited from focus (Latin), 'fireplace, hearth'
  • derived from fyr (Middle English), 'fire'
    • inherited from fȳr (Old English), 'fire'
      • inherited from *fuir (Proto-West Germanic), 'fire'
        • inherited from *fōr (Proto-Germanic), 'fire'

Direct ancestors

• curfu (Middle English)
• couvre-feu (French)

Updated April 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris