Aquatic

How to spell aquatic

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce aquatic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does aquatic mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to, living in, or taking place in water.

Aquatic in a sentence

• The centre offers aquatic classes for adults who want low-impact exercise.

• Frogs and newts spend the early part of their lives in an aquatic stage.

Where does aquatic come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin aquaticus, meaning 'growing or living in water', which was built directly on aqua, the ordinary Latin word for 'water'. English took it in through the late medieval and Renaissance period, partly by way of Old French aquatique, settling into use around the 1400s and 1500s to describe plants, animals, and activities tied to water. The same aqua root is hidden in a whole family of familiar English words such as aquarium (a tank of water), aqueduct (a channel that leads water), and aqualung. The spelling trap is the qu pairing standing in for the 'kw' sound, a direct inheritance from the Latin, which is why writers must remember the silent-looking u after the q. The plain ending -ic, the standard adjective suffix from Latin -icus, keeps a single c, so there is no doubling to worry about.

How the word is built

• aqua- (water)
• -ic (adjective suffix)