Amplifier

How to spell amplifier

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce amplifier

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does amplifier mean?

1. nounA device that increases the strength of an electrical signal, especially to make sound louder.

Amplifier in a sentence

• The guitarist plugged his lead straight into the amplifier.

• A blown fuse left the amplifier completely silent during the gig.

Where does amplifier come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin amplificare, which meant 'to enlarge' or 'to widen', built from amplus, meaning 'large' or 'spacious', joined to facere, meaning 'to make'. English took it up through French in the late 1500s, first as the verb 'amplify', used for making a speech or an argument fuller and more elaborate. The agent noun 'amplifier', literally 'a thing that makes larger', followed soon after for anyone or anything that enlarges or expands. When electrical engineering arrived in the early twentieth century, the word was a natural fit for a device that boosts the strength of a signal, and that meaning now dominates everyday use. The tidy spelling clue is that the 'ampli' part is the same 'large' root you can hear in 'ample', so the word is built from 'ample' plus a way of making things bigger.

How the word is built

• ampli- (from Latin amplus: large, wide)
• -fi- (from facere: to make)
• -er (agent suffix: a thing that does)