Certification

How to spell certification

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce certification

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does certification mean?

1. nounThe official process or document confirming that a person or thing meets a required standard.

Certification in a sentence

• The electrician completed his safety certification before starting the job.

• The product carries certification that it was made from recycled materials.

Where does certification come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin certus, meaning 'sure', 'settled', or 'fixed', which itself grew from cernere, 'to sift, decide, or distinguish'. From certus Latin built the verb certificare, 'to make certain', combining the root with the verb-forming element -ficare (from facere, 'to make'). English took the noun through Old French certification during the late medieval period, when it referred to the act of formally assuring or guaranteeing that something was true. Over time the legal and bureaucratic sense settled into today's meaning: official confirmation, usually in writing, that a person or thing meets a required standard. The same certus root sits inside everyday relatives such as 'certain' and 'certificate', and remembering that family helps explain why the spelling keeps the c-e-r-t opening and the soft middle that swallows into an unstressed schwa.

How the word is built

• cert- (from certus: sure, fixed)
• -ify (to make)
• -ation (act/process noun suffix)