Fundamental

How to spell fundamental

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce fundamental

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fundamental mean?

1. adjectiveForming the essential base or core from which everything else follows.
2. nounA central or essential principle or rule on which something is based.

Fundamental in a sentence

• adjective

  Honesty is a fundamental part of any working relationship.

• noun

  The coach drilled the team on the fundamental of solid defence.

• adjective

  The training covers the fundamental skills every new hire must learn.

• noun

  Mastering each fundamental early makes advanced study far easier.

Where does fundamental come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin noun fundus, which literally meant 'the bottom' or 'the base' of something, the same root that gives us 'foundation' and 'fund'. From fundus came the Late Latin fundamentum, meaning 'a foundation' or 'a groundwork', and from that the adjective fundamentalis, describing something that belongs to the base or supports everything above it. English borrowed the word in the early 1400s through French, keeping the sense of something that forms the essential underlying basis. The middle syllables that trip writers up, the -dament- stretch, preserve that old Latin fundamentum almost intact, so remembering 'foundation' helps fix the spelling. Today it still carries the original image of the solid bottom layer on which the rest is built.

How the word is built

• fund- (from fundus: bottom, base)
• -ament (noun-forming element meaning result or means)
• -al (adjective suffix)