Annual

How to spell annual

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce annual

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does annual mean?

1. adjectiveHappening once every year, or calculated over the course of a year.
2. nounA plant that completes its entire life cycle within a single growing season.

Annual in a sentence

• adjective

  The company holds its annual general meeting every March.

• noun

  She planted a colourful annual in the border for summer flowers.

• adjective

  Her annual salary increased after the promotion.

• noun

  Unlike a perennial, an annual must be replanted each spring.

Where does annual come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun annus, which simply meant 'year'. From it Latin formed annualis and annalis, adjectives describing something that belongs to or recurs each year, and Late Latin annualis settled into the sense 'yearly'. English took the word in the late 1300s through Old French annuel, keeping the meaning of something that happens once every year. The same annus root is hiding in a whole family of familiar words: 'anniversary', 'annals', the salary called an 'annuity', and even 'per annum' on a contract. A handy spelling cue is that double n of annus, which is why annual carries two n's and only one l, the reverse of the trap many people fall into.

How the word is built

• ann- (from Latin annus: year)
• -u- (connective)
• -al (adjective/noun suffix)