Ancillary

How to spell ancillary

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce ancillary

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ancillary mean?

1. adjectiveProviding necessary support to the main work or activity of an organisation; supplementary rather than central.
2. nounA person or thing that provides support to something more important; an accessory or auxiliary.

Ancillary in a sentence

• adjective

  The hospital invested heavily in ancillary services such as catering and cleaning.

• noun

  The kitchen staff were treated as a mere ancillary to the restaurant's celebrity chef.

• adjective

  His salary was modest, but the ancillary benefits made the job worthwhile.

• noun

  The printer is sold as an ancillary to the main computer package.

Where does ancillary come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin ancillaris, meaning 'relating to a maidservant', which was built on ancilla, the everyday Latin word for a female household servant or handmaid. Ancilla was itself a diminutive formed from ancula, the feminine of anculus, meaning a male servant, so the sense at root is something small and subordinate that serves a larger household. English adopted the word in the seventeenth century, at first describing things in a servile or dependent position, and the meaning broadened to anything that provides support to a main activity rather than being the main activity itself. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the double 'l' from ancilla survives, while the ending is the common Latin-derived suffix '-ary'. Remembering the hidden 'maidservant' (ancilla) explains both the doubled 'l' and the idea of something that quietly serves the main work.

How the word is built

• ancill- (from Latin ancilla: maidservant)
• -ary (adjective/noun suffix meaning 'relating to')