Dormant

How to spell dormant

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dormant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dormant mean?

1. adjectiveTemporarily inactive or quiet, but able to become active again later.

Dormant in a sentence

• The volcano had been dormant for centuries before the recent tremors.

• The savings account lay dormant until she finally transferred the funds.

Where does dormant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin verb dormire, which simply meant 'to sleep'. English borrowed it through Old French, where dormant was the present participle of dormir, literally meaning 'sleeping'. It entered English in the 1400s, at first in technical and heraldic uses describing an animal depicted lying asleep, and the figurative sense of something temporarily inactive but capable of waking up followed soon after. The same Latin root sits inside the everyday word 'dormitory', a place for sleeping, and the French dormir is still the modern word for sleep, which is a handy way to remember the spelling. Note that the ending is -ant, the participle vowel a, not the more common -ent that catches many writers out.

How the word is built

• dorm- (from Latin dormire: to sleep)
• -ant (adjective suffix, from a present participle)