Architecture

How to spell architecture

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce architecture

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does architecture mean?

1. nounThe art and practice of designing buildings, or the style in which they are built.
2. nounThe overall structure or organisation of a complex system, especially in computing.

Architecture in a sentence

• She studied architecture for five years before designing her first house.

• The team redesigned the software architecture to handle more users.

• The city is famous for its grand Victorian architecture.

• A clean network architecture makes the whole platform easier to maintain.

Where does architecture come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek arkhitekton, which combined arkhi- meaning 'chief' or 'master' with tekton meaning 'builder' or 'carpenter'; an arkhitekton was therefore the master builder who directed the work of ordinary craftsmen. Latin borrowed this as architectus and built the abstract noun architectura to mean the art and science of building. English took the word in during the 1500s, partly through French architecture, as Renaissance interest in classical design surged. The hidden 'tect' element, the same Greek root for a maker that also surfaces in 'tectonic' (the building or shaping of the earth's crust), explains the unexpected spelling: the 'ch' is pronounced as a hard 'k' because it descends from the Greek letter chi. Remembering the chief-builder origin helps fix the 'archi-' opening and the silent-looking but logical 'ch'.

How the word is built

• archi- (chief, master)
• tect (builder, from Greek tekton)
• -ure (noun-forming suffix)