Addition

How to spell addition

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce addition

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does addition mean?

1. nounThe act or process of joining numbers or things together, especially the arithmetic operation of summing.
2. nounA person or thing joined to or included in something to make it larger or more complete.

Addition in a sentence

• The children practised addition before moving on to subtraction.

• The new conservatory is a welcome addition to the house.

• A quick error in addition left the invoice short by ten pounds.

• The experienced nurse was a valuable addition to the team.

Where does addition come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun additio, meaning 'a putting to' or 'an adding', which was formed from the verb addere, 'to add'. That verb itself was built from the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' or 'toward', joined to dare, the everyday Latin verb 'to give' or 'to put'. So at root an addition is literally something 'given to' or 'put to' what already exists. English took the word in during the late 1300s, by way of Old French addicion, where it was used both for the arithmetic operation and for anything joined on to a larger whole. The doubled 'd' that trips writers up is the visible seam between the prefix ad- and the dare root, and the same ad- shows up in close relatives such as 'addict' and 'address'.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• dit (from dare/-ditus: to give, put)
• -ion (noun of action)