Eligibility

How to spell eligibility

11 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce eligibility

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does eligibility mean?

1. nounThe state of meeting the conditions or requirements needed to qualify for something.

Eligibility in a sentence

• The form asks for proof of eligibility before benefits can be paid.

• A recruiter confirmed her eligibility for the senior role after checking her references.

Where does eligibility come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb eligere, which meant 'to pick out' or 'to choose', formed from ex- meaning 'out' and legere meaning 'to gather' or 'to choose'. From eligere came the Late Latin adjective eligibilis, meaning 'worthy to be chosen', which passed into Old French as eligible and then into English in the fifteenth century. The abstract noun eligibility, naming the state or quality of being eligible, was built later by adding the noun-forming suffix -ity. The same legere root sits inside a whole family of familiar words, including 'select', 'elect', and 'collect', all of which involve gathering or choosing. The spelling trap lives in the middle and the end: the soft g spelled 'gi' and the ending '-ibility' rather than '-ability', since the word descends from eligible, not from a form ending in -able.

How the word is built

• e- (out, from ex-)
• lig (choose, from Latin legere)
• -ibil (able to be)
• -ity (noun forming suffix)