Environmentally

How to spell environmentally

15 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce environmentally

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does environmentally mean?

1. adverbIn a way that relates to the natural world or its ecological condition.

Environmentally in a sentence

• The company switched to environmentally friendly packaging this year.

• Choosing local produce can be more environmentally responsible than importing it.

Where does environmentally come from?

Language of origin: French

This adverb is built on 'environment', which English assembled from the verb 'environ', meaning 'to surround or encircle'. That verb came from the Old French environner, formed from the adverb environ meaning 'around' or 'roundabout', itself a blend of en ('in') and viron ('a circuit or ring'), which in turn traces to virer, 'to turn'. English took up 'environ' in the late 1300s, and by the early 1600s 'environment' described one's surroundings in a general sense. The narrower modern meaning, the natural world and its ecological condition, rose to prominence only in the twentieth century, and the adverb 'environmentally' followed as discussion of conservation grew. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the silent 'n' in enviro-N-ment is easy to drop, since the way most people pronounce the word glides straight over it.

How the word is built

• en- (in)
• viron (from French environ: around)
• -ment (noun suffix)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)