Equilibrium

How to spell equilibrium

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce equilibrium

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does equilibrium mean?

1. nounA state of balance between opposing forces, influences, or conditions.

Equilibrium in a sentence

• The gymnast paused to find her equilibrium on the narrow beam.

• The chemical reaction reached equilibrium once the rates of change matched.

Where does equilibrium come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes directly from the Latin aequilibrium, which described a state of even balance. It was built from aequus, meaning 'equal' or 'level', and libra, meaning 'a balance' or 'a pair of scales'; so the literal sense was something weighing equally on both sides. The same libra survives in the name of the zodiac sign Libra, the scales, and in the old abbreviation 'lb' for pound weight. English adopted equilibrium in the early 1600s, first for physical balance and then more broadly for any steady, settled condition, including a calm mental state. The spelling trap sits in the middle: the unstressed 'qui' and the single 'l' before the stressed 'lib', plus the Latin '-ium' ending that writers are tempted to simplify.

How the word is built

• equi- (equal)
• libr (balance, from Latin libra 'scales')
• -ium (noun suffix)