Annotated

How to spell annotated

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce annotated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does annotated mean?

1. verbAdded explanatory notes, comments, or critical observations to a text or document.
2. adjectiveSupplied with explanatory notes or commentary.

Annotated in a sentence

• verb

  The editor annotated the report with questions in the margins.

• adjective

  The annotated edition of the novel includes hundreds of footnotes.

• verb

  She carefully annotated every chapter before the exam.

• adjective

  He relied on an annotated bibliography while writing his thesis.

Where does annotated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb annotare, meaning 'to add notes to' or 'to mark down', which was built from ad-, meaning 'to' or 'towards', and notare, meaning 'to mark', itself from nota, a 'mark, sign, or note'. The double 'n' that traps so many writers comes from that prefix: the 'd' of ad- assimilated into the following 'n', giving 'ann-', the same pattern seen in 'announce' and 'annul'. English adopted 'annotate' in the early 1700s, taking it from the Latin past participle annotatus, and the past form 'annotated' simply adds the regular English -ed ending. The closely related word 'note' shares the very same Latin nota root, which is a useful reminder that annotating is literally the act of adding notes. The spelling pitfall is the doubled 'n' against the single 't', the mirror image of what many people instinctively expect.

How the word is built

• an- (assimilated form of ad-, 'to')
• nota (Latin 'mark, note')
• -ate (verb-forming suffix)
• -ed (past tense/participle)