Expect

How to spell expect

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce expect

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does expect mean?

1. verbTo regard something as likely to happen or someone as likely to arrive or do something.

Expect in a sentence

• The analysts expect interest rates to rise again next month.

• We expect the delivery to arrive before noon on friday.

Where does expect come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin expectare, more commonly spelled exspectare, which meant 'to look out for' or 'to await'. It was built from the prefix ex-, meaning 'out' or 'forward', and spectare, 'to look at' or 'to watch', a frequentative of specere, 'to see'. The underlying idea was of someone gazing forward in anticipation of something to come. English took the word up in the sixteenth century, and it sits in a large family of relatives that all carry the spect root, including 'spectator', 'inspect', and 'respect'. Knowing that the middle of the word is the same 'spect' you see in 'spectacle' helps fix the spelling, since the trap is hearing it as 'ex-peckt' and forgetting the silent-sounding part of the stem.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, towards)
• spect (from spectare: to look, watch)