Afflicted

How to spell afflicted

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce afflicted

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does afflicted mean?

1. verbCaused someone or something to suffer from pain, illness, or other trouble.
2. adjectiveSuffering from a particular illness, pain, or distressing condition.

Afflicted in a sentence

• verb

  A severe drought afflicted thousands of farming families that summer.

• adjective

  The charity sends medicine to the worst afflicted regions of the country.

• verb

  A rare neurological disorder afflicted him in his early forties.

• adjective

  Support groups offer practical help to those afflicted by chronic pain.

Where does afflicted come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb affligere, which combined the prefix ad- meaning 'to' or 'against' with fligere meaning 'to strike' or 'dash down'; the literal sense was therefore 'to strike against' or 'to cast down'. Its past participle was afflictus, and in classical use it carried a strong physical image of something being knocked flat or beaten low. English absorbed it through Old French in the late medieval period, and by the 1400s 'afflict' had settled into its modern meaning of causing lasting physical or mental suffering. The same fligere root, meaning to strike, also lies behind 'conflict' (a striking together) and 'inflict' (to strike upon), which is a useful way to remember the single f after the doubled one: af- doubles the f, then a single flict follows. The shift from a brute image of striking down to today's sense of being burdened by illness or hardship happened gradually as the word moved from battlefield force to personal distress.

How the word is built

• af- (variant of ad-: to, towards)
• flict (from Latin fligere: to strike, dash)
• -ed (past-tense and participle suffix)