Inert

How to spell inert

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce inert

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inert mean?

1. adjectiveLacking the power or will to move or act; motionless and unresponsive.
2. adjectiveChemically unreactive; not readily combining with other substances.

Inert in a sentence

• The patient lay completely inert on the hospital bed.

• Helium is an inert gas, so it will not catch fire.

• After the long shift he felt inert and unable to lift a finger.

• The powder is biologically inert and causes no reaction in the body.

Where does inert come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes straight from the Latin adjective iners, with the stem inert-, which literally meant 'unskilled' or 'without art', formed from the negative prefix in- ('not') joined to ars, art- ('skill, craft, art'). In Latin it broadened from 'lacking skill' to 'idle, sluggish, doing nothing', and English borrowed it in the early 1600s, first to describe people who were lazy or sluggish, and soon after to describe matter that has no power to move or act by itself. Scientists later narrowed one strand of the meaning to mean 'chemically unreactive', as in the inert gases. A useful memory hook is its close relative 'art': inert is the absence of the active 'art' or skill that makes something move or react, so the spelling ends in -ert, not -urt.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• -ert (from Latin ars, art-: skill, art)