Apt

How to spell apt

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce apt

What does apt mean?

1. adjectiveExactly suitable or fitting for the situation.
2. adjectiveHaving a tendency or being likely to do something.
3. adjectiveQuick to learn or naturally skilled at something.

Apt in a sentence

• The headline was an apt summary of the whole report.

• He is apt to forget appointments unless he writes them down.

• As an apt student, she finished the coding course weeks early.

• Her comparison of the budget to a leaking bucket felt remarkably apt.

• The old printer is apt to jam whenever the deadline is close.

• The new hire proved an apt pupil and mastered the software in days.

Where does apt come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes directly from the Latin aptus, meaning 'fitted', 'suited', or 'attached', which began as the past participle of the verb apere, 'to fasten or join together'. The underlying idea was something joined neatly into place, and from that physical sense of fitting it grew into the figurative meaning of being well suited to a purpose. English borrowed it in the late 1300s, keeping both the sense of 'fitting' for a remark or description and the sense of a person being naturally suited or inclined to do something. The same Latin root sits inside 'adapt' (to fit toward) and 'aptitude' (a natural fitness for a task), which is a handy memory link. Because the word is so short and clean, the only real spelling point is that it ends in a hard 'pt' cluster with no silent letters lurking.

How the word is built

• apt (from Latin aptus: fitted, suited)