Fortitude
nounCourage and mental strength to endure pain, hardship, or adversity.
How to spell fortitude
9 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce fortitude
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does fortitude mean?
- nounCourage and mental strength to endure pain, hardship, or adversity.
Fortitude in a sentence
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She faced months of gruelling training with remarkable fortitude.
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It takes real fortitude to rebuild a business after bankruptcy.
Where does fortitude come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word comes from the Latin fortitudo, meaning 'strength' or 'firmness', which was built on the adjective fortis, literally 'strong' or 'brave'. The abstract noun was formed by adding the suffix -tudo, the Latin equivalent of the English -ness, so the word originally named the very quality of being strong. English borrowed it through Old French in the 1300s, and for a long time fortitude served as the name of one of the four classical cardinal virtues, the courage to face pain or danger calmly. Over time its meaning narrowed from physical toughness toward the inner, mental strength to endure hardship without giving up. The same fortis root still sits inside familiar words such as 'fort', 'force', and 'comfort', and remembering that core 'fort' helps anchor the spelling before the gentle -itude ending.
How the word is built
- fort- (from fortis: strong)
- -itude (noun suffix denoting a quality or state)
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