Effort

How to spell effort

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce effort

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does effort mean?

1. nounA determined attempt or the energy applied to achieve something.

Effort in a sentence

• The team put a huge effort into finishing the report on time.

• Learning a new language takes consistent effort over many months.

Where does effort come from?

Language of origin: French

Effort came into English from the French word effort in the late 1400s. Behind the French lies the Old French esforz, a noun built from the verb esforcier, which meant 'to force oneself' or 'to exert strength'. That verb traces back to a Vulgar Latin form exfortiare, joining ex- 'out' with the Latin adjective fortis 'strong', so the literal idea is to put strength out, to push one's power outward toward a goal. The same fortis root sits inside everyday words like 'force', 'fortify' and 'comfort', all of which share that sense of strength. The doubled f in the modern spelling comes straight from the way the French assimilated the ex- prefix before the f, and that is the main thing a writer needs to remember: two f letters, then a plain -ort ending.

How the word is built

• ef- (out, variant of ex-)
• fort (from Latin fortis: strong)
• -t