Apiece

How to spell apiece

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce apiece

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does apiece mean?

1. adverbFor or to each one; for every single member of a group.

Apiece in a sentence

• The concert tickets cost forty pounds apiece.

• The two strikers scored three goals apiece in the final.

Where does apiece come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grew out of the Middle English phrase 'a pece', literally 'for each piece', where the small word 'a' was an unstressed reduction of an older preposition meaning 'on' or 'to'. The noun 'piece' itself reached English in the 1200s through Old French 'piece', meaning a portion or fragment, which traces back to a Late Latin 'pettia' that many scholars believe was borrowed from a Gaulish (Celtic) root for a part or bit. Over time the two-word phrase fused into the single adverb 'apiece', meaning 'to or for each one', and that fusion is exactly the spelling trap: writers who picture the separate words 'a piece' often split it back apart. By the 1500s the joined adverbial form was well established in English, used to spread a price or a count evenly across several items. The closely related noun 'piece' still survives on its own, which is why the run-together adverb can look unfamiliar even to confident writers.

How the word is built

• a- (to/for each, from Old English on)
• piece (a portion or unit)