Humbled

How to spell humbled

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce humbled

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does humbled mean?

1. verbLowered someone in pride, rank, or self-importance, often through defeat or a reminder of their limits.
2. adjectiveFeeling modest, grateful, and aware of one's limits, especially after praise or kindness.

Humbled in a sentence

• verb

  The unexpected loss humbled the title favourite.

• adjective

  She felt deeply humbled by the warmth of the welcome.

• verb

  A string of poor results humbled the once arrogant manager.

• adjective

  He was humbled and grateful to receive the lifetime award.

Where does humbled come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of 'humble', which English took from Old French 'humble' in the 1200s, itself descended from the Latin 'humilis', meaning 'lowly' or 'small'. That Latin adjective was built directly on 'humus', the ordinary word for 'ground' or 'earth', so to be humble was originally to be close to the soil, near the bottom rather than the top. The same earthy root gives us 'humus' (the dark organic layer of soil) and stands behind 'exhume' (literally to dig out of the ground). Over time the literal lowness softened into the moral sense of modesty and the absence of pride, and the verb 'to humble' came to mean lowering someone's standing or self-importance. The silent 'h' that learners sometimes drop is a faithful survival of that Latin spelling, and the simple '-ed' ending is the only thing added to make the past form.

How the word is built

• humble (from Latin humilis: lowly)
• -ed (past tense / participle suffix)