Community

How to spell community

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce community

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does community mean?

1. nounA group of people living in the same area or united by shared characteristics, interests, or values.

Community in a sentence

• The local community raised funds to repair the village hall.

• She volunteers regularly to support her community during the winter months.

Where does community come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin communitas, meaning 'fellowship' or 'a body of people sharing things in common', which was built on communis, an adjective meaning 'shared by all' or 'common'. That root communis was itself formed from com- 'together' plus an old element related to munus 'duty, gift, or service', so the underlying idea is people bound together by mutual obligations. English took the word in the late 1300s through Old French comunete, at first meaning the common people or the body of citizens as a whole. Over time it broadened to mean any group united by location, interest, or shared identity, as in a village community or a scientific community. The same communis ancestor lies behind 'common', 'communal', and 'communicate', and remembering that shared 'commun-' core helps fix the double m and the -ity ending in spelling.

How the word is built

• commun- (from communis: shared, common)
• -ity (noun suffix forming a quality or body)