Inconvenience

How to spell inconvenience

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce inconvenience

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inconvenience mean?

1. nounA minor trouble or difficulty that causes discomfort or interrupts what is convenient.
2. verbTo cause trouble or difficulty for someone.

Inconvenience in a sentence

• noun

  The road closure caused considerable inconvenience for daily commuters.

• verb

  The manager did not want to inconvenience the staff with a sudden schedule change.

• noun

  The hotel apologised for the inconvenience of the late check-in.

• verb

  Rescheduling the meeting should not inconvenience anyone on the team.

Where does inconvenience come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin inconvenientia, meaning 'incongruity' or 'unsuitability', built from the negative prefix in- ('not') and conveniens, the present participle of convenire, 'to come together' or 'to be fitting'. That verb joined con- ('together') with venire ('to come'), so something convenient literally 'came together' nicely or suited the moment. English borrowed the word through Old French in the late 1300s, at first carrying the sense of harm or unsuitability before settling into the modern meaning of a minor difficulty or trouble. The same venire root still surfaces in everyday relatives such as 'convene', 'venue', and 'avenue', all of which involve coming or coming together. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the unstressed '-ven-' sounds like a vague 'vuh', and writers often drop a letter or misjudge the '-ience' ending.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• con- (together)
• ven (from venire: to come)
• -ience (noun suffix)