Adapt

How to spell adapt

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce adapt

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adapt mean?

1. verbTo change or adjust something, or oneself, to suit new conditions or a new purpose.

Adapt in a sentence

• New staff must quickly adapt to the company's working hours.

• The builders had to adapt the original plans for the smaller site.

Where does adapt come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb adaptare, meaning 'to fit to' or 'to adjust to', formed from the prefix ad- 'to' and aptare 'to fit', which in turn rests on the adjective aptus 'fitted' or 'suitable'. English borrowed it in the early 1600s, partly through the French adapter, with the steady sense of changing something so that it suits new conditions. The same aptus root sits inside everyday relatives such as 'apt', 'aptitude', and 'inept', so anything described as adapted has literally been made to fit. The single 'd' and single 'p' are worth fixing in memory, because the word is so easily blurred with 'adopt' (to take on as one's own) and 'adept' (highly skilled). Keeping the bright 'a' vowel in the middle, as in 'apt', helps separate adapt from those near neighbours.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• apt (fit, suited)
• (from Latin aptare, to fit)