Essential

How to spell essential

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce essential

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does essential mean?

1. adjectiveAbsolutely necessary or extremely important.
2. nounA basic or fundamental thing that is necessary.

Essential in a sentence

• adjective

  A valid passport is essential for international travel.

• noun

  A good pair of boots is an essential for hiking.

• adjective

  Good communication is essential to running a successful team.

• noun

  The workshop covers every essential a new manager needs.

Where does essential come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin essentia, an abstract noun meaning 'being' or 'the inner nature of a thing', which was itself coined from esse, the verb meaning 'to be'. Late Latin formed essentialis to describe whatever belongs to the very being of something, and English borrowed it in the late 1300s by way of Old French. The early sense was philosophical, marking the qualities a thing must have in order to be what it is, as opposed to merely accidental features; from there it broadened into the everyday meaning of 'absolutely necessary'. The same esse root still hums inside familiar words like 'essence' and even 'present' and 'absent'. The spelling trap lives in the doubled s and the unstressed -en- of the middle syllable, which the ear barely registers.

How the word is built

• essent- (from Latin esse: to be)
• -ial (adjective/noun suffix)