Congenital

How to spell congenital

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce congenital

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does congenital mean?

1. adjectivePresent from birth, especially of a medical condition or physical trait.
2. adjectiveSo deeply ingrained in someone that it seems part of their nature.

Congenital in a sentence

• The baby was treated for a congenital heart defect within hours of being born.

• His congenital inability to arrive on time frustrated every manager he worked for.

• Doctors screen newborns for a range of congenital conditions.

• The columnist described the politician as a congenital liar.

Where does congenital come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin congenitus, meaning 'born together with', which combines the prefix con- 'with, together' and genitus, the past participle of gignere 'to beget or bring forth'. The literal idea is of a condition that arrives at the same time as the person does, present at the moment of birth rather than acquired later. English adopted it in the early 1700s, chiefly in medical writing, to describe traits or defects existing from birth. The same gignere root branches into a large family of familiar words, including genus, genetic, generate, and progeny, all circling the idea of birth and origin. Knowing that the middle is genit-, not 'gent', helps with the spelling, since the trap is the soft g and the unstressed schwa vowels around it.

How the word is built

• con- (with, together)
• genit- (born, from Latin gignere 'to beget, bring forth')
• -al (adjective suffix)