Cabinet

How to spell cabinet

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce cabinet

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cabinet mean?

1. nounA piece of furniture with shelves, drawers, or doors used for storing or displaying things.
2. nounThe group of senior government ministers responsible for making policy.

Cabinet in a sentence

• She kept the spare medicines in the bathroom cabinet.

• The prime minister reshuffled the cabinet after the election.

• The kitchen cabinet above the sink needs a new hinge.

• The budget was approved by the cabinet on Tuesday.

Where does cabinet come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the 1500s from the French cabinet, a diminutive that literally meant 'little cabin' or 'small private room', built on cabine or the related cabane, meaning 'hut' or 'cabin'. Some trace it further to the Italian gabinetto, a small chamber, but the French route is the clearest. Its earliest English uses described a small private room where a person kept valuables, jewels, and important papers, and then the cabinet became the piece of furniture in which such things were locked away. From the private room sense came the political meaning: the small group of senior ministers who met privately with the monarch or head of government took their name from the room itself. That history explains the spelling, since the word keeps the plain 'cabin' inside it with a single tacked-on '-et', not a doubled or fancier ending.

How the word is built

• cabin (small room or hut)
• -et (diminutive suffix: little)