Island

How to spell island

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce island

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does island mean?

1. nounA piece of land completely surrounded by water.

Island in a sentence

• They live on a small island.

• A small island off the coast caught our eye.

Where does island come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English igland, a simple compound of ig, meaning 'island' or 'land surrounded by water', and land. The first element ig traces back to a Germanic root connected to water, the same idea that survives in place names like Anglesey and Sheppey. For centuries it was written without any s at all, as iland or yland. The silent s crept in during the 1500s when scholars wrongly assumed the word was related to the French-derived 'isle' (from Latin insula, 'island'), and they inserted the letter to match. So the s in island is a genuine historical error that became permanent, which is exactly why it traps writers today: it is heard nowhere and earns its place only through a centuries-old misunderstanding.

How the word is built

• island (from Old English igland: ig 'island'
• land 'land'; the silent s was added later by mistaken association with 'isle')