Auditory
adjectiveRelating to the sense of hearing or the organs and nerves involved in hearing.
How to spell auditory
8 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce auditory
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does auditory mean?
- adjectiveRelating to the sense of hearing or the organs and nerves involved in hearing.
Auditory in a sentence
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The specialist tested his auditory nerve after the infection.
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Some learners absorb information best through auditory channels rather than visual ones.
Where does auditory come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word descends from the Latin verb audire, meaning 'to hear', the same root that gives us 'audio', 'audience', and 'audition'. The adjective form 'auditorius' described anything connected with hearing, and English adopted 'auditory' in the early 1600s to mean 'relating to the sense of hearing or the organs of hearing'. The spelling preserves the Latin stem audit-, which is also visible in 'audit', originally a hearing or review of accounts read aloud. The trap for writers is the unstressed middle and the -ory ending, which can be mistaken for -ary; remembering the link to 'audit' keeps the spelling on track. The word remains a precise technical term in medicine, psychology, and acoustics today.
How the word is built
- audit- (from Latin audire: to hear)
- -ory (relating to)
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