Interconnected

How to spell interconnected

14 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce interconnected

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does interconnected mean?

1. adjectiveLinked or related to one another so that each part affects the others.

Interconnected in a sentence

• The modern economy is so interconnected that a delay in one country raises prices everywhere.

• Our office computers are all interconnected through a single secure network.

Where does interconnected come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word builds on the Latin verb nectere, meaning 'to bind or tie together', whose past participle nexus gave English words like 'connect' and 'nexus'. English first formed 'connect' in the early 1600s from the Latin connectere, joining con- 'together' with that root for binding. The prefix inter-, meaning 'between' or 'among', was then attached to convey mutual linkage on all sides, with 'interconnect' appearing in the 1800s as industry and machinery increasingly relied on parts wired together. The adjective 'interconnected' grew naturally from this, describing things tied to one another in a network. The spelling trap lies in the buried double prefix: writers must remember the full inter- plus con- run-up before the visible 'nect', and the silent move from nect to the softer pronunciation hides the root.

How the word is built

• inter- (between, among)
• con- (together)
• nect (to bind, tie)
• -ed (past participle/adjective suffix)