Evolved

How to spell evolved

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce evolved

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does evolved mean?

1. verbDeveloped or changed gradually over time into a more advanced or different form.

Evolved in a sentence

• The small workshop evolved into a national company over two decades.

• Their original plan evolved as the team learned more about the market.

Where does evolved come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of the verb evolve, which comes from the Latin evolvere, meaning literally 'to unroll' or 'to roll out'. That verb was built from the prefix ex-, meaning 'out', and volvere, meaning 'to roll' or 'to turn', the same root that gives us 'revolve' and 'volume' (originally a rolled scroll). When English adopted it in the 1600s, the early sense was very physical: to open out or unfold something, much as one would unroll a parchment to reveal what is written inside. From that idea of gradual unfolding came the modern meaning of developing slowly into a more advanced or different form, a sense cemented in the nineteenth century by biology and Darwin's work on natural selection. The spelling keeps the single v of volvere and the silent flow into -ed, so the trap for writers is hearing the final sound as a simple 'd' while remembering the v that precedes it.

How the word is built

• e- (from ex-: out)
• volv (from volvere: to roll)
• -ed (past tense/participle suffix)