Beneficiaries

How to spell beneficiaries

13 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce beneficiaries

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does beneficiaries mean?

1. nounPeople or organisations that receive money, property, or other advantages, especially from a will, insurance policy, or trust.

Beneficiaries in a sentence

• The named beneficiaries will each receive an equal share of the estate.

• The charity listed its main beneficiaries in the annual report.

Where does beneficiaries come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin beneficium, meaning 'a kindness' or 'a favour', which was itself built from bene 'well' and facere 'to do or make', so the literal sense was 'a good deed done for someone'. Roman law extended beneficium to a grant of land or privilege, and from it came beneficiarius, describing a person who held such a grant. English absorbed the noun beneficiary in the early 1600s, first in legal and ecclesiastical contexts where someone received an estate, an office, or the proceeds of a trust. The plural beneficiaries simply adds the regular -es ending, but the spelling stays awkward because the unstressed 'fici' stretch hides the c and the i clusters that learners tend to drop or reorder. The same bene 'well' element turns up in benefit, benevolent, and benediction, all carrying that core idea of good being done.

How the word is built

• bene- (well, good)
• fic (from facere: to do, make)
• -ary (one connected with)
• -es (plural)