Abort

How to spell abort

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce abort

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does abort mean?

1. verbTo stop a plan, process, or activity before it is finished.

Abort in a sentence

• The pilot had to abort the landing because of strong crosswinds.

• Engineers can abort the launch right up to the final second.

Where does abort come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb aboriri, which meant to miscarry, to fail, or to pass away. It was built from the prefix ab-, meaning away or amiss, joined to oriri, which literally meant to arise or to be born. So the original sense pictured something going wrong with a birth or a beginning, a thing that arises in the wrong way and comes to nothing. English took it up in the 1500s, at first in the medical sense of a pregnancy ending early, and over time it broadened to cover any plan, mission, or process that is halted before it can be completed. The same oriri root sits inside the everyday words origin and aborigine, all of them circling the idea of beginning or arising. Because the spelling is plain and phonetic, the main thing to remember is that it ends in a simple -ort, with no silent letters to trip you up.

How the word is built

• ab- (away, amiss)
• ort (from Latin oriri: to arise, be born)