Analyses

How to spell analyses

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce analyses

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does analyses mean?

1. nounMore than one detailed examination of something, breaking it into parts to study it; the plural of 'analysis'.
2. verbExamines something in detail by breaking it into parts; the third-person singular of 'analyse'.

Analyses in a sentence

• noun

  The laboratory submitted three separate analyses of the same water sample.

• verb

  The new software analyses every transaction for signs of fraud.

• noun

  Their statistical analyses of the customer data revealed two clear trends.

• verb

  She carefully analyses each report before signing off on it.

Where does analyses come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek analusis, which literally meant 'a loosening up' or 'a breaking apart', formed from ana 'up, throughout' and luein 'to loosen or set free' (the same luein that gives us the lys element in words like 'paralysis' and 'catalyst'). The idea was that to understand something complex you break it down into its parts. It passed through Medieval Latin analysis and into French before settling into English in the late 1500s, at first in mathematical and logical writing. The spelling 'analyses' is doing two jobs at once: it is the plural of the noun 'analysis', and (in British and Canadian usage) it is also the third-person singular of the verb 'analyse'. The Greek -sis ending is precisely why the plural shifts to -ses rather than the more ordinary -es, which is the detail that catches people out.

How the word is built

• ana- (up, throughout)
• lys (a loosening, breaking apart)
• -es (plural noun ending, or third-person singular verb ending)

British and American spelling

Analyses is the British spelling. American English spells it analyzes.