Councilman

How to spell councilman

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce councilman

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does councilman mean?

1. nounA male member of a local or city council.

Councilman in a sentence

• The councilman voted against the new parking levy.

• A long-serving councilman proposed funding for the library.

Where does councilman come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This compound joins 'council' with 'man'. The first half comes from the Latin concilium, meaning an assembly or gathering of people called together, built on com- (together) and calare (to call or summon). Latin concilium passed into Old French as concile and conseil, and English absorbed it during the 1200s as the body of people who meet to govern or advise. Confusingly, English also kept the look-alike 'counsel' (advice), which descends from the separate Latin consilium, and the two have tangled in spelling ever since. The -man ending is simply the native Old English word for a person or member, and the spelling trap lives in the middle: it is council (an governing body) with -man, never counsel (giving advice), so the c-i-l ending is the one to hold onto.

How the word is built

• council (from Latin concilium: an assembly called together)
• -man (person, member)