Fuel

How to spell fuel

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fuel

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fuel mean?

1. nounA material such as petrol, wood, or gas that is burned or consumed to produce energy or power.
2. verbTo supply with fuel, or to provide the energy or stimulus that drives something.

Fuel in a sentence

• noun

  The long detour burned through most of our fuel before lunch.

• verb

  A hot breakfast will fuel you through a demanding morning of meetings.

• noun

  Rising fuel prices added a noticeable cost to the weekly commute.

• verb

  Cheap credit can fuel a sudden rise in house prices.

Where does fuel come from?

Language of origin: French

This word travelled into English from the Old French fouaille, which meant material for a fire, especially the bundles of wood a household was allowed to gather. That French word grew out of the Latin focus, meaning 'hearth' or 'fireplace', the very spot where a fire was kept burning. English adopted it in the 1300s, at first for firewood and other burnable matter, and only much later did it stretch to cover petrol, oil, gas, and anything that powers an engine. The same Latin focus also gave us the word 'focus' itself, since a lens gathers light to a single burning point. The spelling trap is the quiet vowel pair 'ue', which writers sometimes swap or drop, and the way the word stays the same whether it is a noun or a verb.

How the word is built

• fuel (from Old French fouaille, ultimately Latin focus: hearth, fireplace)