Emeritus

How to spell emeritus

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce emeritus

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does emeritus mean?

1. adjectiveRetired from a position but allowed to keep the title as an honour, typically used after the title.

Emeritus in a sentence

• After forty years of teaching she was named professor emeritus.

• The university invited its emeritus faculty back for the centenary dinner.

Where does emeritus come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes straight from Latin emeritus, the past participle of emereri, which meant 'to serve out one's term' or 'to earn fully'. It was built from the prefix e- (a form of ex-, meaning 'out' or 'completely') and the verb merere, 'to earn or deserve', the same root that gives us 'merit' and 'meritorious'. In ancient Rome an emeritus was literally a soldier who had completed his full service and so had earned an honourable discharge, often with a grant of land. English adopted the term in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to describe professors and clergy who had retired from active duty but kept their title as a mark of earned distinction. The connection to 'merit' is a useful memory aid: there is a single m in the middle, and the ending is -itus, not the more familiar -atus seen in words like 'apparatus'.

How the word is built

• e- (from ex-: out, fully)
• merit (from merere: to earn, deserve)
• -us (Latin masculine ending)