Assurance

How to spell assurance

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce assurance

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does assurance mean?

1. nounA positive statement or promise intended to give someone confidence that something is true or will happen.
2. nounA calm and settled confidence in one's own abilities.
3. nounIn British usage, insurance that pays out on a certainty such as death, especially life cover.

Assurance in a sentence

• The contractor gave us his assurance that the work would finish on time.

• She handled the difficult clients with quiet assurance.

• His parents took out a life assurance policy when he was born.

• The manager offered repeated assurance that no jobs would be cut.

• He spoke to the board with an assurance that impressed everyone.

• The broker compared several life assurance products before advising us.

Where does assurance come from?

Language of origin: French

This word comes from the Old French aseurance, a noun built on the verb aseurer, meaning 'to make safe' or 'to reassure'. That verb traces back to the Latin assecurare, formed from ad- 'to' and securus 'safe, free from care', the same root that gives us 'secure' and 'sure'. English took the word in during the late 1300s, and it carried the idea of making someone feel safe or certain, which is why it covers both a firm promise and a settled feeling of confidence. The spelling trap lives in the middle and the end: the doubled s reflects the assimilation of the Latin ad- to as-, while the ending is -ance rather than -ence because it descended through French. In Britain the word also became the traditional term for life insurance, since an insurer offers the policyholder a kind of guaranteed certainty.

How the word is built

• as- (form of ad-: to, toward)
• sur (from Latin securus: safe, secure)
• -ance (noun suffix)