Donated

How to spell donated

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce donated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does donated mean?

1. verbGave money, goods, or services to a charity or cause without expecting payment.

Donated in a sentence

• The company donated a large sum to the local food bank.

• She donated several boxes of clothes to the shelter last winter.

Where does donated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb donare, meaning 'to give as a gift', which was built on the noun donum, simply 'a gift'. That same donum sprang from the ancient root meaning 'to give', the very source that also produced the word 'donor' and the Latin dare. English actually formed the verb 'donate' rather late, in the early 1800s, as a back-formation from the older noun 'donation', which had arrived through Old French from the Latin donationem. So while the noun came first, speakers eventually trimmed it down to a tidy verb. The past tense 'donated' simply adds the regular -ed ending, and because the base 'donate' already ends in a silent e, that e is dropped before the suffix; the single d and single n trip up writers who expect a doubled letter.

How the word is built

• don- (from Latin donare: to give)
• -ate (verb suffix)
• -ed (past tense)