Avoid

How to spell avoid

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce avoid

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does avoid mean?

1. verbTo keep away from something or to prevent something from happening.

Avoid in a sentence

• Leaving early helps you avoid the worst of the rush-hour traffic.

• She changed her diet to avoid foods that upset her stomach.

Where does avoid come from?

Language of origin: French

Avoid came into English in the 1300s from Anglo-French and Old French, where the verb evuidier or esvuidier meant 'to empty out' or 'to clear away'. That verb was built on vuide, the Old French word for 'empty', which is the same source that gives us the modern English word 'void'. The earliest English sense matched the French one closely: to avoid a room or a place was literally to clear it or withdraw from it. From the idea of withdrawing or making something empty, the meaning gradually softened into the familiar modern sense of keeping away from a thing, person, or action on purpose. Because the heart of the word is that little 'void' for 'empty', the spelling keeps the o before the i, which is the spot writers most often slip on.

How the word is built

• a- (from Old French e-/es-: out, away)
• void (empty, from vuide); together 'to empty out, clear away', later 'keep away from'