Issue

How to spell issue

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce issue

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does issue mean?

1. nounAn important topic or problem that is being discussed or that needs attention.
2. nounA single edition of a magazine, newspaper, or other periodical.
3. verbTo give out, distribute, or formally release something.

Issue in a sentence

• noun

  The meeting will address the issue of staff shortages.

• noun

  The latest issue of the magazine arrived in the post.

• verb

  The bank will issue new cards to all account holders.

• noun

  Funding is the biggest issue facing the council this year.

• noun

  Her article appears in next month's issue.

• verb

  The court can issue a warrant for the arrest.

Where does issue come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb exire, meaning 'to go out' or 'to come forth', formed from ex 'out' and ire 'to go'. From the past participle stem grew the idea of something that goes out or comes forth, a result or an outflow. English took the word through Old French issue, which meant an exit, an outcome, or offspring, and the spelling with its doubled 's' and the soft '-ue' ending preserves that French shape. The original sense of 'coming out' survives today when a publisher puts out an issue of a magazine or a bank issues new notes, and the modern meaning of a contested point or problem grew from the older legal sense of 'the point on which a matter turns'. That double 's' followed by the silent-looking '-ue' is exactly the part that trips writers, since the word is pronounced as if it ended simply in 'oo'.

How the word is built

• iss- (from Latin exire: to go out)
• -ue