Additional

How to spell additional

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce additional

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does additional mean?

1. adjectiveExtra; more than the amount or number already present or expected.

Additional in a sentence

• The airline charges an additional fee for checked luggage.

• We hired two additional staff to cover the busy season.

Where does additional come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb addere, meaning 'to add' or literally 'to put toward', formed from the prefix ad- ('to') and dare ('to give' or 'to put'). From addere came the noun additio, meaning 'an adding' or 'an increase', which produced the medieval Latin adjective additionalis. English took it up through this Latin and Old French channel during the late Middle Ages, originally in legal and accounting contexts where extra clauses or sums were 'added'. The same dare root that means 'to give' sits inside a surprising family of English words, including 'edit', 'tradition', and 'render'. The spelling trap is the doubled 'd' followed by the single-then-doubled letters of '-itional': writers must remember the two d's of 'add' survive into 'additional'.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• dit (from Latin dare, to give/put)
• -ion (noun-forming)
• -al (adjective suffix)