Adorned

How to spell adorned

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce adorned

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adorned mean?

1. verbDecorated or made more attractive by the addition of ornamental details.

Adorned in a sentence

• The banquet hall was adorned with garlands of fresh flowers.

• She adorned the mantelpiece with framed family photographs.

Where does adorned come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb adornare, which combined the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' or 'towards', with ornare, meaning 'to equip, furnish, or decorate'. The same ornare root literally referred to fitting something out or making it ready, and it survives today in the English words 'ornament' and 'ornate'. English took the verb in through Old French aorner during the 1300s, and over time the spelling was re-Latinised back towards the original ad- prefix. The core idea has stayed remarkably stable across the centuries: to add decorative touches that beautify a thing. Because the modern spelling neatly preserves the ad- prefix and the single -orn- root, the main thing to remember is the single 'd' in the middle and the doubled consonant trap that does not actually apply here.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• orn (from Latin ornare: to equip, decorate)
• -ed (past tense/participle)