Aptitude
nounA natural ability or talent for learning or doing something well.
How to spell aptitude
8 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce aptitude
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does aptitude mean?
- nounA natural ability or talent for learning or doing something well.
Aptitude in a sentence
-
Her aptitude for numbers made the accounting role an easy fit.
-
The firm uses an online test to measure each candidate's aptitude for problem solving.
Where does aptitude come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word traces back to the Latin aptitudo, a noun meaning 'fitness' or 'suitability', which was built on the adjective aptus, meaning 'fitted', 'suited', or 'appropriate'. That adjective itself came from a verb meaning 'to fasten' or 'to fit together', so the underlying image is of something fitting neatly into place. The word passed into English through Old French in the early 1400s, at first carrying the broad sense of being suited or appropriate for something. Over time it narrowed toward its modern meaning of a natural talent or readiness to learn a particular skill, the idea being that a person is well fitted for that activity. The same aptus root still shows up in the everyday word 'apt' and in 'adapt', which literally means to fit yourself to something new, and remembering 'apt' helps fix the tricky -itude ending in spelling.
How the word is built
- apt (fit, suited)
- -itude (noun suffix meaning state or quality)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.