Labelled

How to spell labelled

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce labelled

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does labelled mean?

1. verbAttached a tag or written description to something to identify or classify it.

Labelled in a sentence

• The courier labelled each parcel before loading the van.

• She carefully labelled every jar of jam with the date it was made.

Where does labelled come from?

Language of origin: French

The base word 'label' came into English in the 1300s from Old French 'label', which meant a narrow strip or ribbon of cloth, especially one hanging from a garment or seal. The French term itself is thought to derive from a Germanic source related to 'lappa', a flap or loose piece of cloth, which is also linked to the modern word 'lapel'. Over the centuries the sense shifted from a literal dangling strip to any small tag attached to an object to identify it, and then to the verb meaning 'to attach such a tag' or, more figuratively, 'to describe or categorise'. The past-tense form follows the British and Canadian convention of doubling the final 'l' before a vowel suffix even when the last syllable is unstressed, which is exactly where writers familiar with the American single-l 'labeled' tend to slip.

How the word is built

• label (a strip or tag for identifying)
• -led (past-tense suffix, with the final l doubled in British and Canadian spelling)

British and American spelling

Labelled is the British spelling. American English spells it labeled.