Equals

How to spell equals

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce equals

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does equals mean?

1. verbIs the same in amount, value, or number as something else.
2. nounPeople who are the same as one another in status, ability, or rights.

Equals in a sentence

• verb

  Two plus two equals four.

• noun

  The new manager treats her staff as equals rather than subordinates.

• verb

  On the receipt, the total equals the sum of every item.

• noun

  The two negotiators met as equals at the table.

Where does equals come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin aequalis, meaning 'even', 'level', or 'of the same size', which was built on the adjective aequus, literally 'level' or 'flat' and figuratively 'fair' or 'just'. The same aequus underlies a whole family of English borrowings such as 'equator', 'equity', and 'adequate', all carrying the sense of evenness or balance. English took 'equal' in during the late 1300s, originally as an adjective describing two things that matched in quantity or rank, and the verb use ('one thing equals another') developed naturally from it. Adding the ordinary English -s produces either the verb form used after a singular subject or the plural noun for people of the same standing. The spelling keeps the Latin qu cluster, so the trap for writers is remembering that the sound after 'e' is written 'qu', not 'kw', and that the word ends in a soft -al before the -s.

How the word is built

• equ- (from Latin aequus: level, even)
• -al (adjective suffix, via aequalis)
• -s (third-person singular verb ending or noun plural ending)