Accumulate

How to spell accumulate

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce accumulate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does accumulate mean?

1. verbTo gather or build up a growing quantity of something over time.

Accumulate in a sentence

• Steady monthly deposits help savings accumulate over the years.

• Dust will accumulate on the shelves if the room is left unused.

Where does accumulate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb accumulare, meaning 'to heap up' or 'to pile together'. It was formed from the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' or 'towards', and the noun cumulus, which literally meant 'a heap' or 'a mound'; the prefix shifted to ac- before the c sound, which is exactly why the spelling carries a doubled c. English adopted the word in the sixteenth century, keeping the sense of gathering things together into an ever-growing mass. The same cumulus root sits inside the meteorological term 'cumulus cloud', those piled, heaped white clouds, and inside 'cumulative'. The single m and the double c are the classic spelling trap here, since the rhythm of the word tempts writers to double the wrong consonant.

How the word is built

• ac- (from ad-: to, towards)
• cumul (from cumulus: a heap or pile)
• -ate (verb-forming suffix)