Allocation

How to spell allocation

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce allocation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does allocation mean?

1. nounThe act of distributing resources for a particular purpose, or the share that is assigned.

Allocation in a sentence

• The department exceeded its annual budget allocation by March.

• Careful allocation of staff hours kept the project on schedule.

Where does allocation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the medieval Latin verb allocare, meaning 'to assign a place to' or 'to set down', which combined the prefix ad- ('to') with locare ('to place'), itself from locus, the ordinary Latin word for 'a place' or 'a spot'. From allocare came the noun allocatio, the act of assigning something to its proper place, a term used in medieval accounting for setting amounts against an account. English took the word in through Anglo-French and Old French during the late Middle Ages, first in legal and financial contexts where sums were formally 'allowed' or assigned. The same locus root still sits visibly inside 'location', 'local', and 'locate', which is a useful reminder that the spelling carries that double-l from the assimilated ad- prefix meeting loc. Knowing the prefix is really ad- explains why there are two l's: the d softened into an l before the following l, a tidy clue for anyone tempted to write a single one.

How the word is built

• al- (variant of ad-, meaning 'to')
• loc (from Latin locus, meaning 'place')
• -ation (noun suffix denoting an action or its result)