Inserted

How to spell inserted

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce inserted

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inserted mean?

1. verbPlaced or fitted something into something else, or added text or material into a document.

Inserted in a sentence

• The technician inserted the memory card into the slot.

• She inserted an extra paragraph before submitting the report.

Where does inserted come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb inserere, which combined in- meaning 'in' or 'into' with serere meaning 'to join, attach, or set in place', so it literally meant 'to put or set into something'. Its past participle was insertus, and that form is the direct ancestor of the English root. English took up 'insert' in the early sixteenth century, first as a verb for placing one thing inside another, then later as a noun for a thing slipped in, such as a printed leaflet. The same serere root, which also gave the sense of arranging in a series, underlies relatives like 'series', 'assert', and 'desert' (to abandon). For spelling, the trap is the unstressed final syllable: writers must remember the plain '-ed' ending and resist doubling the t, since the stress falls on 'sert' but the consonant is not doubled.

How the word is built

• in- (in, into)
• sert (from Latin serere, sertus: to join, put, attach)
• -ed (past-tense suffix)