Excess

How to spell excess

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce excess

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does excess mean?

1. nounAn amount that is more than is necessary, allowed, or desirable.
2. adjectiveExceeding what is usual, needed, or permitted; surplus.
3. nounThe fixed sum a policyholder must pay toward a claim before the insurer covers the rest.

Excess in a sentence

• noun

  The airline charged her for the excess in her luggage weight.

• adjective

  The recipe asks you to drain off any excess liquid before serving.

• noun

  The policy carries a five hundred pound excess on every accident claim.

• noun

  An excess of sugar in the diet can harm your health.

• adjective

  Customers must pay duty on excess goods brought across the border.

• noun

  A lower premium often means a higher excess on the policy.

Where does excess come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin excessus, meaning 'a going out' or 'a departure', formed from the verb excedere, which combined ex- meaning 'out' or 'beyond' with cedere meaning 'to go' or 'to yield'. The literal sense of stepping or going beyond a limit explains how the modern meaning of 'more than is needed or proper' developed so naturally. English took the word in during the late 1300s through Old French exces, where it already carried ideas of overindulgence and intemperance. The same cedere root, meaning 'to go', sits inside a large family of familiar relatives such as 'proceed', 'recede', 'concede' and 'access', which is why the doubled s at the end can feel uncertain. Remembering that ex- joins the 'cess' element seen in 'access' and 'success' helps fix the spelling, since all three end in that same -cess.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, beyond)
• cess (from cedere: to go)
• (noun/adjective use)