Inconvenient

How to spell inconvenient

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce inconvenient

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inconvenient mean?

1. adjectiveCausing trouble, difficulty, or discomfort, especially by occurring at an awkward time or place.

Inconvenient in a sentence

• The meeting was scheduled at an inconvenient hour for the overseas team.

• The roadworks made the morning commute inconvenient for thousands of drivers.

Where does inconvenient come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin inconveniens, which literally meant 'not coming together' or 'unsuitable', formed from the negative prefix in- plus convenire, 'to come together' or 'to agree'. The verb convenire itself joins con- ('together') with venire ('to come'), the same root that gives us 'convene', 'convenient', and 'venue'. In its earliest Latin use the sense was closer to 'incongruous' or 'improper', and that older flavour survived when the word passed through Old French into English in the late 1300s. Over time the meaning settled on the modern idea of something awkward or causing difficulty rather than something morally unfitting. The spelling trap lives in the unstressed middle and the -ient ending: writers hear a schwa where the 'venient' is spelled, so remembering the buried 'come' root (ven) helps anchor it.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• con- (together)
• ven (come, from Latin venire)
• -ient (adjective suffix)