Albeit

How to spell albeit

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce albeit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does albeit mean?

1. conjunctionAlthough; even though; conceding a point that does not overturn the main statement.

Albeit in a sentence

• The project was finished on time, albeit over budget.

• She agreed to help, albeit reluctantly, with the office move.

Where does albeit come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Albeit began life not as a single word but as a short Middle English phrase, 'all be it', which literally meant 'although it be' or 'even though it may be so'. Each part was an ordinary word: 'all' here carried the older sense of 'completely' or 'even', 'be' was the subjunctive of the verb to be, and 'it' was the plain pronoun. Speakers and writers of the 1300s used the phrase to introduce a concession, and over time the three words were spoken so closely together that they fused into the single conjunction we recognise today. The spelling trap follows directly from this history: because 'be' sits in the middle, the word is written albeit and not 'albiet', and the temptation to swap the e and i comes from treating it as a normal -iet ending rather than the hidden verb 'be' plus 'it'. Remembering that it is really 'all be it' keeps the letters in the right order.

How the word is built

• al- (all)
• be (verb 'be')
• it (pronoun); a frozen contraction of the phrase 'all be it' meaning 'although it be'