Charity

How to spell charity

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce charity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does charity mean?

1. nounAn organisation set up to help those in need, or the act of giving money and aid to them.
2. nounKindness and tolerance in judging or treating other people.

Charity in a sentence

• The local charity runs a food bank every weekend.

• He reviewed her early mistakes with unusual charity.

• She donates a portion of her salary to charity each month.

• A little charity toward newcomers makes the office friendlier.

Where does charity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin caritas, an abstract noun meaning 'dearness' or 'costly affection', formed on the adjective carus, which literally meant 'dear' or 'beloved'. In early Christian Latin, caritas was chosen to translate the Greek agape, the selfless love of God and neighbour, and that religious sense dominated for centuries. English took the word from Old French charite in the 1100s and 1200s, first carrying this meaning of Christian love and goodwill toward others. From there the sense broadened to the practical expression of that love: giving help, money, or food to people in need, and eventually the organisations that exist to do so. The same carus root survives in 'caress' and in 'cherish', and remembering the single r and single t of the Latin caritas helps fix the spelling, since the trap is the unstressed middle vowel that sounds like an indistinct 'i'.

How the word is built

• char- (from Latin carus: dear, beloved)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix)