Equate

How to spell equate

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce equate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does equate mean?

1. verbTo consider one thing as equivalent to or the same as another.

Equate in a sentence

• Many people wrongly equate a high salary with happiness.

• The report tries to equate the cost of the project with its long-term benefit.

Where does equate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This verb comes from the Latin aequare, meaning 'to make level' or 'to make equal', which was built on the adjective aequus, meaning 'even, level, or fair'. The past participle of that verb was aequatus, and English took the word in the early 1400s with the sense of making two things equal or balancing them. Over time the everyday meaning broadened from literal levelling to the mental act of treating one thing as equivalent to another. The same aequus root sits behind a whole family of familiar words, including 'equal', 'equator', 'equation', and 'equity', all of which keep the tell-tale 'equ' spelling. Remembering that shared root is the easiest way to fix the 'equ' opening and avoid writing it as 'equait' or 'ekwate'.

How the word is built

• equ- (from Latin aequus: even, level, equal)
• -ate (verb-forming suffix)