Familiarity

How to spell familiarity

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce familiarity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does familiarity mean?

1. nounA close acquaintance with, or thorough knowledge of, a person, subject, or thing.
2. nounAn undue informality or intimacy in behaviour, especially where more respect is expected.

Familiarity in a sentence

• Years of teaching gave her a deep familiarity with the syllabus.

• The new intern treated senior staff with a surprising familiarity.

• His familiarity with the city made him an ideal tour guide.

• Such familiarity toward a customer struck the manager as unprofessional.

Where does familiarity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin familiaritas, meaning 'close friendship' or 'intimacy', which was built on familiaris, an adjective describing a person who belonged to the same household. That in turn rests on familia, the Latin word for a household, including its servants and dependants, rather than just blood relatives as we mean today. English took the word through Old French familiarite during the 1300s, when it carried the sense of close personal acquaintance and easy intimacy. Over time it broadened to cover not only knowing people well but also being well acquainted with a subject, place, or skill. The spelling trap lies in the unstressed middle: the '-liar-' stretch sounds like a quick schwa, so writers easily drop a letter or muddle the vowels in 'famili-ar-ity'.

How the word is built

• famili- (from familia: household, family)
• -ar (adjective suffix: pertaining to)
• -ity (noun suffix: state or quality)