Feat

How to spell feat

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce feat

What does feat mean?

1. nounA remarkable act or achievement that demonstrates skill, strength, or courage.

Feat in a sentence

• Climbing the mountain in a single day was a remarkable feat of endurance.

• Completing the marathon on a broken ankle was no small feat.

Where does feat come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the late 1300s from Old French 'fait' or 'fet', meaning 'a deed' or 'an action', which itself came from the Latin 'factum', literally 'a thing done', the past participle of 'facere', meaning 'to do' or 'to make'. The same Latin 'factum' lies behind a whole family of familiar English words, including 'fact', 'factory', 'manufacture', and 'affair', all of which carry the underlying sense of doing or making. Over time 'feat' narrowed from any deed to an impressive one: an act that takes notable skill, courage, or strength. The spelling kept the French 'ea' vowel cluster, which is exactly why it sounds identical to 'feet' yet is written quite differently. Remembering that a feat is a deed, sharing its root with 'fact', helps keep it apart from the body part 'feet'.

How the word is built

• feat (from Latin factum: a thing done, a deed)

Words that sound like feat

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• feet: The plural of foot: the parts of the legs below the ankles that a person stands on.