Commissioned

How to spell commissioned

12 letters · 3 syllables

11 of the 29 people asked to spell commissioned in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.

The most common mistake is comissioned. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.

comissioned commissioned

What people typed instead

• comissioned4 people
• commisioned4 people

How to pronounce commissioned

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does commissioned mean?

1. verbFormally ordered, authorised, or engaged the creation of a work or the provision of a service.
2. adjectiveHolding a formal rank and authority granted by a warrant, as a military officer.

Commissioned in a sentence

• verb

  The council commissioned a mural for the new library wall.

• adjective

  A commissioned officer signed the orders before the unit deployed.

• verb

  The gallery commissioned three local artists to produce original pieces.

• adjective

  She became a commissioned officer after completing her training.

Where does commissioned come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb committere, formed from com- meaning 'together' and mittere meaning 'to send' or 'to put'. The related noun commissio originally meant a 'joining together' or 'an act of committing', and over time it came to mean a formal charge or authority handed to someone to act on another's behalf. English took the noun 'commission' from Old French in the 1300s, and the verb sense, 'to give a formal order or authority', followed soon after. The participle 'commissioned' became especially associated with military officers who held a formal warrant from the crown, and with artists or builders formally engaged to produce a work. The doubled letters are the spelling trap here: the 'mm' comes from com- meeting the m of miss, and the 'ss' plus -ion give the soft 'sh' sound, so writers must remember both pairs.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• miss (from Latin mittere, to send)
• -ion (act/state)
• -ed (past tense/participle)