Deficiencies

How to spell deficiencies

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce deficiencies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deficiencies mean?

1. nounStates of lacking or falling short of what is needed, whether in quantity, quality, or capability.

Deficiencies in a sentence

• The blood test revealed several vitamin deficiencies that needed treatment.

• The auditor's report listed numerous deficiencies in the company's record keeping.

Where does deficiencies come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb deficere, which meant 'to fail', 'to fall short', or 'to desert', built from de- (meaning 'down' or 'away') and facere (meaning 'to do' or 'to make'); literally the sense was 'to undo' or 'to leave undone'. From the related Latin noun deficientia, meaning 'a falling short' or 'a want', came the idea of something missing or inadequate. English took 'deficient' and 'deficiency' through Latin in the early 1600s, and the plural 'deficiencies' simply pluralises that noun. The same facere root sits inside a large family of English words such as 'efficient', 'sufficient', and 'proficient', all sharing the tell-tale -cient spelling. That shared -ci- before the -ent or -ency is exactly the spelling trap, since the sound is a plain 'sh' that gives no clue it should be written 'ci'.

How the word is built

• de- (down, lacking)
• fic (from Latin facere: to do, to make)
• -iency (noun-forming suffix denoting a state)
• -es (plural)