Install

How to spell install

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce install

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does install mean?

1. verbTo fit, place, or set up equipment, software, or fixtures so that they are ready for use.
2. verbTo formally place a person into an official position or role through a ceremony.

Install in a sentence

• The electrician will install the new oven on Thursday.

• The council will install the new mayor at a public ceremony.

• You can install the accounting software from the company portal.

• The board voted to install her as chief executive next month.

Where does install come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Medieval Latin verb installare, meaning 'to place into a seat or stall'. It was built from the prefix in-, meaning 'into', and stallum, meaning 'a seat, place, or stall', a Latinised borrowing of a Germanic word related to the modern 'stall'. The original sense was strikingly ceremonial: to install someone was to formally seat them in their official chair, as when a bishop or knight was placed in the carved stall reserved for their rank. English took the word in through Old French installer during the 1400s, keeping that sense of putting a person into office. Only much later, in the industrial and then digital ages, did it broaden to mean fitting equipment, fixtures, or software into place. The single 'l' of the Latin stall sits at the heart of the spelling, but English doubles it to 'install', which is the trap, since the noun 'instalment' (British) often tempts writers toward odd letter counts.

How the word is built

• in- (into)
• stall (a place, stand, or fixed position, from Medieval Latin stallum)

British and American spelling

Install is the American spelling. British English spells it instal.