Attached

How to spell attached

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce attached

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does attached mean?

1. adjectiveFastened, connected, or joined to something else.
2. adjectiveEmotionally bound to or fond of someone or something.

Attached in a sentence

• The invoice is attached to the email for your records.

• The children grew very attached to their old babysitter.

• A small label was attached to the back of the chair.

• She felt deeply attached to the family home where she grew up.

Where does attached come from?

Language of origin: French

This word descends from the Old French verb 'atachier', meaning 'to fasten, fix in place, or stake up', which was formed from the prefix 'a-' (to) and 'tache', a word for a nail, peg, or stake that itself came from a Germanic root. English borrowed the verb 'attach' during the 1300s, originally in the legal sense of seizing a person or property by authority, before it settled into the everyday meaning of fastening one thing to another. The participle 'attached' then grew a softer, figurative use, describing a person who has become emotionally bound or devoted to someone or something. The same 'tache' root survives in the closely related word 'detach', which simply reverses the action with the 'de-' prefix. The spelling trap lives in the doubled letters: the assimilated prefix gives 'at-' a double t, while the soft 'ch' ending follows the single 'a' of the root.

How the word is built

• at- (assimilated form of ad-: to, toward)
• tach (fasten, fix)
• -ed (past participle / adjective suffix)