Accept

How to spell accept

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce accept

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does accept mean?

1. verbTo willingly receive or agree to something that is offered, given, or proposed.

Accept in a sentence

• She decided to accept the new job offer after the weekend.

• Most shops here accept both cash and contactless payment.

Where does accept come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin verb accipere, meaning 'to receive' or 'to take to oneself', which was built from ad, meaning 'to' or 'toward', and capere, meaning 'to take'. The past participle acceptus gave rise to a frequentative form acceptare, 'to take willingly', and it was this form that passed into Old French as accepter before reaching English in the late 1300s. The core idea has stayed remarkably steady across the centuries: to take something that is offered, whether a gift, an apology, or a set of terms. The same capere root that means 'take' lurks inside a large family of English words, including capture, receive, deceive, and except, which is precisely the cousin most often confused with accept. Remembering that accept begins with ac- (toward, taking in) while except begins with ex- (out, leaving out) is the cleanest way to keep the two spellings apart.

How the word is built

• ac- (variant of ad-: to, toward)
• cept (from capere: to take) = to take to oneself