Inaugural

How to spell inaugural

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce inaugural

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inaugural mean?

1. adjectiveMarking the formal beginning of something, especially a first official occasion or the start of a person's term in office.

Inaugural in a sentence

• The president delivered his inaugural address to a packed crowd.

• The company hosted its inaugural conference for industry leaders this spring.

Where does inaugural come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin inaugurare, which literally meant to consecrate or install someone in office by taking the auguries, that is, by reading omens from the flight and behaviour of birds. At its heart sits the noun augur, the title of the Roman priest whose job was to interpret these signs before any important undertaking, so an event done inaugurale was one launched under favourable divine omens. English borrowed the adjective through French in the early 1600s, and as the religious ritual faded the meaning narrowed to simply marking a beginning or a first occasion. The same augur root still lives in the verb inaugurate and in the everyday word augur meaning to foretell. The tricky spelling, the silent run of letters in -augur-, is a direct fossil of that ancient bird-watching priesthood.

How the word is built

• in- (in, upon)
• augur (Roman priest who read omens)
• -al (adjective suffix)