Checked

How to spell checked

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce checked

What does checked mean?

1. verbPast tense of check: examined, verified, or confirmed something.
2. adjectiveHaving a pattern of squares, like a chessboard.

Checked in a sentence

• verb

  She checked the figures twice before sending the report.

• adjective

  She wore a checked shirt to the casual meeting.

• verb

  He checked his email as soon as he woke up.

• adjective

  The cafe had red and white checked tablecloths on every table.

Where does checked come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the game of chess. The root verb 'check' came into English through Old French eschec, which itself goes back to the Persian word shah, meaning 'king', the warning a player gives when threatening the opposing king. From that game-board sense of putting a piece under threat, the meaning broadened in medieval English to 'to stop or restrain', then later to 'to examine or verify', since you stop something in order to inspect it. The familiar 'checked' pattern of squares takes its name from the chequered board itself, so the cloth and the verb share one ancestor. The spelling keeps the hard -ck before the regular -ed ending, which is why it is written 'checked' rather than 'chect' even though the ending sounds like a plain 't'.

How the word is built

• check (verb root, from Old French eschec)
• -ed (past tense / adjective suffix)