Finest

How to spell finest

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce finest

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does finest mean?

1. adjectiveOf the highest quality or the best of its kind.

Finest in a sentence

• The hotel served the finest coffee she had ever tasted.

• This workshop produces the finest handmade furniture in the region.

Where does finest come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the superlative of the adjective 'fine', which English took from the Old French 'fin', meaning 'perfected', 'pure', or 'of the best quality'. That French word descended from the Latin 'finis', which literally meant 'end', 'limit', or 'boundary'. The leap in meaning came through the idea of something being brought to its furthest, most complete point: a thing finished to the limit of perfection was therefore 'fine'. The same Latin 'finis' gives us the everyday words 'finish', 'final', and 'finite', all sharing the notion of an end point. English added its own native Germanic superlative ending '-est' to the borrowed root, which is why the spelling keeps the single 'n' of 'fine' but drops the silent 'e' before the suffix.

How the word is built

• fin- (from fine: of high quality)
• -est (superlative suffix)