Congratulate

How to spell congratulate

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce congratulate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does congratulate mean?

1. verbTo express praise or good wishes to someone for an achievement or happy event.

Congratulate in a sentence

• The manager paused to congratulate the team on closing the deal.

• Friends gathered to congratulate the couple on their engagement.

Where does congratulate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin congratulari, which meant 'to wish someone joy' or 'to rejoice together with another person'. It was built from the prefix con-, meaning 'with' or 'together', and gratulari, 'to show joy', which itself grew from gratus, the adjective meaning 'pleasing, welcome, or thankful'. That same gratus root sits behind a whole family of familiar English words, including 'grateful', 'gratitude', and 'gratis', all of them carrying the idea of pleasure or thanks. English adopted congratulate in the sixteenth century, taking the form directly from the Latin past participle congratulatus rather than through French. The single 'g' and the unexpected 'tul' in the middle are exactly where modern writers stumble, but the link to 'grateful' is a useful reminder that the heart of the word is grat, not 'grad'.

How the word is built

• con- (with, together)
• grat (from gratus: pleasing, thankful)
• -ulate (verb-forming suffix)