About
prepositionOn the subject of, concerning; or approximately, near to.
How to spell about
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce about
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does about mean?
- prepositionOn the subject of, concerning; or approximately, near to.
About in a sentence
-
Tell me about your weekend.
-
The book is about five hundred pages long.
Where does about come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
The word descends from the Old English onbutan, a compound built from on, meaning 'on' or 'at', joined to butan, which itself meant 'on the outside of' or 'around'. That butan was a blend of be ('by') and utan ('outside'), so the whole word originally painted a picture of something positioned on the outer edge, encircling a place. From this came the early sense of being 'all around' or 'in the vicinity', which later softened into the modern notions of nearness, approximation, and the topic something concerns. The unstressed first syllable, a weak schwa, is why the spelling feels slightly slippery even though the word is extremely common. Its kinship with 'out' is no accident, since both trace back to the same Old English utan meaning 'outside'.
How the word is built
- a- (Old English on/at)
- but (from butan: on the outside of, around)
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