Innocence

How to spell innocence

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce innocence

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does innocence mean?

1. nounThe state of being free from guilt or wrongdoing.
2. nounA lack of guile, worldly experience, or knowledge of evil.

Innocence in a sentence

• The new evidence finally proved his innocence in court.

• The photograph captured the innocence of childhood in a single glance.

• The defence lawyer argued passionately for her innocence.

• She answered with an innocence that charmed everyone at the table.

Where does innocence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin innocentia, meaning 'harmlessness' or 'freedom from guilt', which was built from innocens, literally 'not harming'. That adjective combined the negative prefix in- ('not') with the verb nocere, meaning 'to harm or hurt', so at its core the word describes someone who does no harm. English took it in during the 1300s by way of Old French innocence, first in the sense of moral blamelessness and freedom from sin. The same nocere root still hides inside its relatives 'noxious', 'nuisance', and 'innocuous', all of which circle around the idea of harm or its absence. For spelling, it helps to remember the double n at the start (the in- prefix meeting the noc- root) and the -ence ending that comes straight from the Latin -entia.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• noc (harm, from Latin nocere 'to harm')
• -ence (noun-forming suffix)