acre
UK[ˈeɪkə]US[ˈeɪkər]
n
A unit of land area equal to 4,840 square yards (approximately 4,047 square meters).
Etymology
The word 'acre' originates from the Old English 'æcer', meaning "open field, cultivated land". This term is derived from Proto-Germanic 'akraz', which carries the sense of "field, pasture". The Proto-Germanic root can be traced further back to the Proto-Indo-European 'h₂éǵros', meaning "pasture, plain". The semantic journey is direct, from the ancient concept of a general open field to the precise modern unit of measurement for land area, reflecting the word's deep agricultural roots in English history.
Analysis
The word 'acre' is a simplex word, a loanword from Old English that has been inherited as a single, unsegmentable unit in modern English.
Examples
The farm consists of over two hundred acres of fertile land.
They bought an acre of woodland to build their house.
The new park will add several acres of green space to the city center.