Let’s Square the Accounts: the Use of Names of Shapes as Verbs in English and Polish

Abstract

The paper analyses the use of names of shapes as verbs in English and Polish. In particular, the use of circle and square as verbs in English and the verbs related to the Polish names of these shapes, koło/okręg and kwadrat, is studied. The analysis shows that in English both circle and square function as verbs (often phrasal verbs), while in Polish these nouns cannot become verbs. Still, several verbs formed from the names koło and okręg were found while there is no verb related to kwadrat. In many cases the meaning of these “shape verbs” manifests a semantic relation to the shape itself.