Detriment

How to spell detriment

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce detriment

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does detriment mean?

1. nounHarm or damage caused to something or someone.

Detriment in a sentence

• Working long hours every week was to the detriment of his health.

• Cutting the training budget will be a serious detriment to staff skills.

Where does detriment come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin detrimentum, which meant 'a rubbing away', 'loss', or 'damage'. It was built on the verb deterere, formed from de- meaning 'down' or 'away' and terere meaning 'to rub' or 'to wear', so the literal image is of something being worn down by friction. From that physical idea of wearing away, the sense broadened into the more abstract notion of loss or harm. English took the word over through Old French in the fifteenth century, keeping the Latin spelling closely intact. The same terere root that wears away here also underlies words like 'attrition' and 'trite' (literally 'worn out'), and remembering that buried 'wearing away' helps explain the unstressed middle vowel that trips writers up.

How the word is built

• de- (down, away)
• -trment- (from Latin terere: to rub, wear away)
• -ment (noun-forming suffix)