As an adjective, “close” means near in distance, time, or relationship. As a verb, it means to shut something or bring it to an end.
“Close” comes from Old French “clos,” meaning “shut,” from Latin “clausus,” the past participle of “claudere,” meaning “to shut.” Over time, the idea of shutting space led to the idea of nearness or tightness.
It’s wild that “close friends” and “close the door” are the same word: both are about things being brought tightly together. Even the silent “s” sound shift (/s/ vs. /z/) shows how one spelling carried two closely related ideas.
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