Correlated

How to spell correlated

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce correlated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does correlated mean?

1. verbShowed a mutual relationship or connection, so that one thing varied alongside another.

Correlated in a sentence

• The analysts found that sales correlated closely with advertising spend.

• The study showed that sleep quality and productivity were strongly correlated.

Where does correlated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin elements com-, meaning 'together', and relatus, the past participle of referre, 'to bring back' or 'to refer'. Scholars in the seventeenth century coined the Latin-style verb correlare to express the idea of two things bearing a mutual relationship, one referring back to the other. English adopted 'correlate' in the 1600s, and it became especially common in science and statistics, where it describes two measurements that rise or fall together. The doubled r is the inheritance of the assimilated prefix com- becoming cor- before an r, exactly the same pattern seen in 'correspond' and 'corrupt'. That assimilation is the spelling trap: the prefix supplies one r and the root 'relate' supplies another, so the word carries two r's but only a single l.

How the word is built

• cor- (com-: together)
• relate (Latin relatus: to bring back, to refer)
• -ed (past tense/participle)