Achieve

How to spell achieve

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce achieve

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does achieve mean?

1. verbTo successfully reach or accomplish a goal, usually through effort or skill.

Achieve in a sentence

• It took years to achieve that goal.

• You can achieve a lot with a little discipline.

Where does achieve come from?

Language of origin: French

The word comes through Middle English from the Old French achever, meaning 'to bring to an end' or 'to finish'. That verb was built from the phrase a chief, literally 'to a head' or 'to a point', where chief traces back to the Latin caput, meaning 'head'. The idea was that to achieve something was to bring it right up to its conclusion, its highest point. English adopted it around the 1300s, and over time the sense shifted from simply finishing to accomplishing something through effort and skill. The same caput root sits inside familiar words such as 'chief', 'captain', and 'chapter', and the buried 'ie' in achieve is the classic trap, since the spelling follows the 'i before e' pattern that many adults second-guess.

How the word is built

• a- (from Old French a, ultimately Latin ad: to)
• chieve (from chief/end, Latin caput: head) = to bring to a head