Council

How to spell council

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce council

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does council mean?

1. nounAn assembly or elected body of people that meets to make decisions, advise, or govern.

Council in a sentence

• The local council voted to repair the high street.

• She was elected to the city council for a four-year term.

Where does council come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Council comes from the Latin concilium, which meant an assembly or meeting called together for discussion. That word was built from con-, meaning 'together', and a root tied to calare, 'to call' or 'to summon', so a concilium was literally a calling-together of people. English took it in during the 1100s and 1200s through Anglo-Norman French as cuncile and conseil. The spelling and meaning later tangled with the separate word 'counsel' (advice), which descends from Latin consilium meaning 'deliberation' or 'plan'; the two words sound identical and look alike, which is exactly why writers still confuse them. The reliable memory hook is that a council is a group of people who sit on a panel, so it ends in -cil, while counsel (advice) carries the 'sel' you might 'sell' as guidance.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• cil (from Latin calare, to call/summon)
• -il via -cilium

Words that sound like council

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• counsel: Advice or guidance given after careful thought.