Inscription

How to spell inscription

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce inscription

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inscription mean?

1. nounWords carved, engraved, or written on a surface or inside a book, often as a dedication or record.

Inscription in a sentence

• The inscription on the war memorial lists the names of the fallen.

• She read the faint inscription on the inside of the antique ring.

Where does inscription come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin inscriptionem, the noun built on inscribere, which meant 'to write upon' or 'to mark with letters'. That verb joined the prefix in- (meaning 'on' or 'upon') to scribere, the everyday Latin verb 'to write', the same root that gives English a whole family of words including scribe, describe, manuscript, and script itself. English took the word in during the late 1300s, by way of Old French, first describing letters formally carved or engraved on stone, metal, or coins. From that monumental sense it broadened to cover any handwritten dedication, such as the personal note written inside the cover of a gift book. Remembering the hidden 'script' at the heart of the word is the surest way to keep the spelling steady, since every letter of that root survives intact.

How the word is built

• in- (on, upon)
• script (from Latin scribere: to write)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)