Caution

How to spell caution

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce caution

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does caution mean?

1. nounCareful attention or prudence aimed at avoiding danger, risk, or mistakes.
2. verbTo warn someone, often formally, about a possible danger or consequence.

Caution in a sentence

• noun

  The wet floor signs urged everyone to proceed with caution.

• verb

  The manager had to caution staff about the new safety rules.

• noun

  Investors treated the volatile market with great caution.

• verb

  Police may caution a driver rather than issue a fine.

Where does caution come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Caution travels from the Latin noun cautio, which meant 'a taking heed' or 'a guarding against', and it was built on the verb cavere, meaning 'to beware, to be on one's guard, to take precautions'. The past participle of that verb, cautus, literally described someone who was wary and watchful. English picked the word up through Old French caution during the 1200s and 1300s, where it carried legal senses of a pledge or security as well as the broader idea of careful prudence. Over time the everyday meaning of 'careful attention to avoid danger or mistakes' became dominant, and a verb sense, 'to warn', grew alongside it. The same cavere root survives in the legal warning 'caveat' and in 'precaution', and the steady -tion ending here is the reliable Latinate spelling that catches out writers who reach for a phonetic '-shun'.

How the word is built

• caut- (from Latin cautus 'wary, careful', past participle of cavere 'to beware')
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)