Affiliated

How to spell affiliated

10 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce affiliated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does affiliated mean?

1. adjectiveOfficially connected or associated with a larger organisation or group.
2. verbFormally joined or connected one organisation, group, or person to another.

Affiliated in a sentence

• adjective

  The clinic is affiliated with the regional teaching hospital.

• verb

  The startup affiliated itself with a respected industry association last year.

• adjective

  Our local club is affiliated to the national governing body.

• verb

  The two charities affiliated their fundraising teams to cut costs.

Where does affiliated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb affiliare, which literally meant 'to adopt as a son'. It was built from the prefix ad-, meaning 'to', and filius, the Latin word for 'son', a root still visible in 'filial' (relating to a son or daughter). Medieval Latin extended the original adoption sense into the broader idea of attaching one body or person to another as a member or subordinate branch. English borrowed the verb in the eighteenth century, and the past-participle form 'affiliated' soon settled into describing organisations or people formally connected to a larger group. The double 'f' is the spelling trap, and it survives precisely because the prefix ad- assimilated into af- before the f of filius, doubling the sound and the letter.

How the word is built

• af- (to, variant of ad-)
• fili (from Latin filius, son)
• -ate (verb)
• -ed (past/participle)