Affection

How to spell affection

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce affection

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does affection mean?

1. nounA gentle feeling of fondness, tenderness, or warm liking for someone or something.

Affection in a sentence

• The old dog greeted her with obvious affection every evening.

• He wrote to his grandmother with genuine affection and gratitude.

Where does affection come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin affectio, meaning 'a state of mind or body produced by some influence', which was built from the verb afficere, 'to act upon' or 'to influence'. That verb in turn joined the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' or 'toward', with facere, 'to do' or 'to make', so the literal idea was something done to a person that leaves a mark on their feelings. English took the word through Old French affeccion in the 1200s, when it could mean any strong inclination or passion, good or bad. Over the centuries the sense narrowed and warmed into the familiar modern meaning of tender, fond feeling. The same facere root sits inside relatives such as 'affect', 'effect' and 'infection', and the doubled letters of the prefix (the d of ad- assimilating to the f) explain why affection is spelled with a single f after the double, a common point of hesitation.

How the word is built

• af- (variant of ad-, meaning 'to' or 'toward')
• fect (from facere, 'to do' or 'to make')
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)