Eruption

How to spell eruption

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce eruption

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does eruption mean?

1. nounA sudden, often violent bursting out, as of a volcano, a skin rash, or a wave of emotion or activity.

Eruption in a sentence

• The volcanic eruption forced thousands of residents to flee the coastal towns.

• A sudden eruption of cheering filled the stadium when the home team scored.

Where does eruption come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb erumpere, meaning 'to burst out' or 'to break forth', formed from ex- 'out' and rumpere 'to break or burst'. From the past-participle stem erupt- came the noun eruptio, which described a sudden bursting forth. English took the word in during the early 1600s, at first describing the violent discharge of a volcano and later widening to any sudden outbreak, including rashes on the skin and outbursts of feeling. The same rumpere root sits inside the everyday relatives 'rupture', 'disrupt', 'interrupt', and 'corrupt', all of which carry that core idea of breaking. Remembering that the spelling hinges on rupt (break) explains why the middle is -upt- and the ending is the regular -ion that turns the verb into a noun.

How the word is built

• e- (out, from ex-)
• rupt (break, burst)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)