What does curtal mean?
"Curtal" describes something that has been cut short or abridged, whether a piece of writing, a speech, or — in older usage — the tail of a horse or dog. The word derives ultimately from the Latin "curtus," meaning short or maimed, the same root that gives us "curt" and "curtail." Although once more widely used to describe docked-tailed animals and abbreviated texts, curtal survives today chiefly in literary discussion, most famously through Gerard Manley Hopkins's invention of the "curtal sonnet," a compressed eleven-line adaptation of the traditional fourteen-line form. Because of its rarity, the word lends any sentence a distinctly bookish, slightly archaic tone. Writers reaching for it usually want precision about brevity itself — the sense that something has been deliberately trimmed rather than merely left unfinished. It pairs naturally with terms like version, account, or form when describing abridged works.
Cut short; shortened or abridged in length.
"She gave only a curtal account of her travels, omitting the final week entirely."
Now largely literary or archaic; most familiar from references to the curtal sonnet.
An animal, especially a horse or dog, whose tail has been docked; also, by extension, a curtal sonnet.
"The innkeeper's curtal trotted alongside the carriage, its bobbed tail swishing briskly."
The noun sense is historical and rarely encountered outside older texts.
Applies only to the noun sense referring to short-tailed animals.
"The breed standard of the era favored curtals with neatly bobbed tails."
Gerard Manley Hopkins invented his own shorter form of the sonnet and named it the 'curtal sonnet' — a poetic compression that trims eleven lines down to ten and a half.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of curtal
"Curtal" entered English from Old French "courtault," formed on "court" (short), which descends from the Latin "curtus," meaning short or mutilated. This same Latin root underlies the English words "curt," "curtail," and "curtsey." The word was applied historically to animals with docked tails before extending figuratively to anything abridged.
How curtal is actually used
"Curtal" is rare in modern usage and carries a somewhat literary or archaic flavor; it appears most often today in discussions of Hopkins's curtal sonnet. In historical contexts it described animals with docked tails.
Easily confused with curtal
Curtail is a verb meaning to reduce or cut something short, while curtal is primarily an adjective describing something that has already been shortened.
Curdle means to turn into curds (as milk does), a completely unrelated meaning despite the similar opening sound.