Existence

How to spell existence

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce existence

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does existence mean?

1. nounThe fact or state of being real, living, or present in the world.

Existence in a sentence

• The company denied the existence of any internal report.

• Scientists confirmed the existence of water beneath the surface.

Where does existence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Late Latin existentia, meaning 'the state of being', which was built on the verb existere (also spelled exsistere), literally 'to step out' or 'to stand forth'. That verb combined ex, meaning 'out' or 'forth', with sistere, meaning 'to stand' or 'to cause to stand', so the original image was of something emerging into view and taking its place in the world. English picked the word up in the late 1300s through Old French, where it had become existence, and it settled into its modern sense of simply 'being' or 'the fact of being real'. The same sistere root sits inside a whole family of English words, including 'insist', 'resist' and 'consist', all of which involve a kind of standing. The spelling trap is the ending: it is -ence, not -ance, because Latin handed us an -entia suffix, even though the unstressed vowel gives the ear no clue.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, forth)
• sist (to stand, from Latin sistere)
• -ence (noun-forming suffix)