Certified

How to spell certified

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce certified

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does certified mean?

1. adjectiveOfficially recognised as meeting a required standard or qualification.
2. verbFormally confirmed or declared something to be true or genuine in writing.

Certified in a sentence

• adjective

  The company only hires certified electricians for major rewiring jobs.

• verb

  The surveyor certified that the building met all safety regulations.

• adjective

  She is a certified accountant with fifteen years of experience.

• verb

  The notary certified that the signature on the contract was genuine.

Where does certified come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin certus, meaning 'sure', 'settled', or 'decided', which itself grew out of cernere, 'to sift, distinguish, or decide'. From certus the Late Latin verb certificare was built, literally 'to make sure or certain', combining certus with the verb-forming element facere, 'to make'. English took the word through Old French certifier in the 1300s, where it carried the legal sense of declaring something true in a formal, official way. Over time the past form 'certified' settled into both a verb sense ('confirmed in writing') and an adjective sense ('officially recognised'). The same certus root still sits inside everyday relatives such as 'certain' and 'certificate', and remembering 'certain' helps fix the single r and the soft c at the start.

How the word is built

• cert- (from Latin certus: sure, settled)
• -ify (to make)
• -ied (past tense / adjective suffix)