Deliveries

How to spell deliveries

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce deliveries

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deliveries mean?

1. nounMore than one act of bringing goods, parcels, or items to a person or place.

Deliveries in a sentence

• The warehouse schedules all deliveries before noon on weekdays.

• Online shopping has made same-day deliveries increasingly common.

Where does deliveries come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Old French verb delivrer, meaning 'to set free' or 'to hand over', which English adopted in the 1200s as 'deliver'. The French verb in turn came from the Late Latin deliberare, formed from the prefix de- and the verb liberare, meaning 'to liberate' or 'to set free', which itself rests on the adjective liber, meaning 'free'. The early English sense was literally about freeing or releasing someone or something, and from there the meaning broadened to handing goods or messages over to a recipient, as if releasing them into their care. The abstract noun 'delivery' grew from the verb, and its plural simply adds -es after the y becomes i. That y-to-ies switch is the chief spelling snag: writers must remember the single l and single v of the root before reaching the familiar -ies plural ending, since the medial schwa in the middle syllable gives no audible clue.

How the word is built

• de- (intensive/away)
• liver (from Latin liberare, to set free)
• -y (noun)
• -es (plural)