Established

How to spell established

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce established

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does established mean?

1. verbSet up, founded, or proved something firmly in the past.
2. adjectiveLong settled, recognised, and accepted as part of normal practice.

Established in a sentence

• verb

  The two partners established the bakery back in 1998.

• adjective

  She left her job to join an established accountancy firm.

• verb

  The detective established a clear timeline of events that night.

• adjective

  It is an established fact that the bridge needs repair.

Where does established come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of 'establish', which English took from Old French 'establir', meaning 'to set up' or 'to make firm'. That French verb descended from the Latin 'stabilire', 'to make steady or fixed', which was built on 'stabilis', meaning 'firm' or 'standing', from the root verb 'stare', 'to stand'. The same standing root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'stable', 'stability' and 'station', all sharing the idea of something fixed in place. When the word arrived in Middle English in the 1300s the spelling carried an extra 's' for a while ('stablish'), but the modern 'establish' settled into use, and the silent first 'e' plus the single 'l' before '-ish' are the parts writers most often slip on. The '-ed' ending then forms both the simple past tense and the adjective describing something long settled and recognised.

How the word is built

• e- (variant of ex-, from Latin: thoroughly)
• stabil (from Latin stabilis: firm, steady, standing)
• -ish (verb-forming suffix via Old French)
• -ed (past tense/participle suffix)