Affect

How to spell affect

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce affect

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does affect mean?

1. verbTo have an effect on someone or something; to make a difference to.
2. verbTo put on or pretend to have a quality, manner, or feeling that is not genuine.

Affect in a sentence

• The new policy will affect everyone in the office.

• He would often affect a posh accent to impress clients.

• How does the weather affect your mood?

• She liked to affect an air of boredom during meetings.

• Try not to let his comments affect you.

• Smoking can affect your health over time.

Where does affect come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Affect descends from the Latin verb afficere, meaning 'to do something to' or 'to influence', which was formed from ad 'to, toward' and facere 'to do or make'. Its past participle affectus literally described something that had been acted upon or worked upon, and from that came the sense of being moved emotionally. English took the word in the late 1300s, partly through Old French, and used it both for influencing something and for being stirred in feeling. The very same facere root sits inside a large family of English words, including effect, fact, and manufacture, and it is precisely that kinship that makes affect and effect so easy to swap in writing. The simplest spelling anchor is that the verb affect begins with an a, while the common noun effect begins with an e.

How the word is built

• af- (to)
• fect (do)

Words that sound like affect

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• effect: A change or result produced by an action, cause, or agent.