Feature

How to spell feature

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce feature

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does feature mean?

1. nounA distinctive or notable part, quality, or aspect of something.
2. verbTo present or include something as a prominent or important part.

Feature in a sentence

• noun

  The heated steering wheel is the feature she values most in the car.

• verb

  The magazine will feature three local chefs in its next issue.

• noun

  The bay window is a charming feature of the old cottage.

• verb

  The festival aims to feature emerging artists from the region.

Where does feature come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin factura, meaning 'a making' or 'a formation', which was built on facere, the everyday Latin verb 'to make or do'. In its earliest English life, borrowed through Old French faiture or feture in the 1300s, it referred to the make or shape of a thing, and especially to the form of a person's face. From that sense of facial form came the familiar plural use, your 'features' being the parts of your face. Over time the meaning widened to any distinctive or prominent part of something, and later still it named a main item in a newspaper or a full-length cinema film. The buried facere root, the same one that powers 'factory', 'manufacture' and 'fact', explains the slightly surprising 'feat' spelling at the front rather than the 'fee' sound suggests.

How the word is built

• feat- (from Latin factura: a making, formation)
• -ure (noun suffix)