Inflation

How to spell inflation

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce inflation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inflation mean?

1. nounA general rise in prices over time, which reduces the purchasing power of money.
2. nounThe act of filling something with air or gas so that it expands.

Inflation in a sentence

• Rising inflation pushed up the cost of weekly groceries.

• Proper inflation of the tyres improves fuel efficiency.

• The central bank raised interest rates to curb inflation.

• The life jacket relies on rapid inflation when the cord is pulled.

Where does inflation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin inflare, meaning 'to blow into' or 'to puff up', formed from the prefix in- 'into' and flare 'to blow'. The past participle inflatus gave a noun inflatio, describing a swelling or a puffing up with air. English took the word in through the 1300s and 1400s, where it first carried the literal sense of being swollen or distended, as a body part or a balloon might be filled with air. The economic meaning, a swelling of prices and a corresponding loss of money's purchasing power, is comparatively modern and grew up in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by clear analogy with that physical puffing up. The same flare root quietly survives in relatives like 'flatulent' and 'conflate', and the single -f- and the -tion ending are the spots worth fixing in memory, since the word looks regular but the unstressed middle vowel is easy to fumble.

How the word is built

• in- (into)
• flat- (from flare: to blow)
• -ion (noun of action)