Congressman

How to spell congressman

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce congressman

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does congressman mean?

1. nounA male member of a legislative congress, especially the United States House of Representatives.

Congressman in a sentence

• The congressman voted against the proposed tax increase.

• Voters wrote to their congressman demanding action on the bridge repairs.

Where does congressman come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word combines 'congress' with 'man'. The 'congress' element comes from the Latin congressus, meaning 'a coming together' or 'a meeting', which was the past participle of the verb congredi, 'to meet'. That verb was built from the prefix con-, meaning 'together', and gradi, meaning 'to step' or 'to walk', so the literal idea was of people stepping toward one another to assemble. English adopted 'congress' in the 1500s for any formal gathering, and after American independence it became the proper name of the national legislature. The compound 'congressman', a member of that legislature, then emerged in American usage during the late eighteenth century. The same gradi root that means 'to step' also walks quietly inside everyday words like 'progress', 'gradual', and 'degree', and the doubled 's' that catches some writers simply preserves the Latin congressus spelling.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• gress (from Latin gradi: to step or walk)
• -man (person)