Emergence

How to spell emergence

9 letters · 3 syllables

The most common mistake is emergance. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.

emergance emergence

What people typed instead

• emergance4 people

How to pronounce emergence

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does emergence mean?

1. nounThe process of coming into existence, becoming visible, or rising into view.

Emergence in a sentence

• The report tracked the emergence of new markets across the region.

• Biologists studied the emergence of the cicadas after years underground.

Where does emergence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb emergere, meaning 'to rise up out of' or 'to come forth', which was built from the prefix ex-, meaning 'out', and mergere, meaning 'to dip' or 'to plunge'. So at its literal root the word describes something rising back out after being submerged, the exact opposite of 'submerge', which shares the same mergere core. English borrowed the verb 'emerge' in the early 1600s, and the noun 'emergence' followed soon after to name the act or process of coming into view. The closely related 'emergency' developed from the same Latin source, originally meaning an unforeseen situation that suddenly arises. The spelling trap is the soft -ence ending rather than -ance, and the single g, both of which simply preserve the Latin shape of the word.

How the word is built

• e- (out, from Latin ex-)
• merg (to dip, plunge)
• -ence (noun of action or state)