Amends

How to spell amends

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce amends

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does amends mean?

1. nounReparation or compensation offered for a wrong, injury, or insult, typically in the phrase 'make amends'.

Amends in a sentence

• He wanted to make amends for forgetting her birthday.

• The company offered a refund as amends for the late delivery.

Where does amends come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Latin emendare, which meant 'to free from fault' or 'to correct', built from ex- meaning 'out of' and menda meaning 'a blemish or fault'. The verb passed into Old French as amender, 'to improve or repair', and its noun form amende meant a penalty or reparation paid to make good a wrong. English borrowed the plural amendes in the 1200s and 1300s, and that plural shape is exactly why we still say 'amends' rather than 'amend' in this sense, and why the word almost always travels with the verb 'make'. The very same root sits inside the everyday words 'amend' and 'mend', as well as the legal 'emend'. The spelling trap is simply remembering it is a plural that ends in -s even when it points to a single act of putting something right.

How the word is built

• a- (from Latin ex-, out of)
• mend (from menda, a fault or blemish)
• -s (plural noun)