Level

How to spell level

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce level

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does level mean?

1. nounA measured position, degree, or amount on a scale of quantity, quality, or rank.
2. adjectiveHaving a flat, even, horizontal surface with no part higher than another.
3. verbTo make a surface flat and even, or to knock something to the ground.

Level in a sentence

• noun

  The report measured the noise level inside the factory.

• adjective

  He checked that the shelf was perfectly level before fixing it to the wall.

• verb

  The crew used a roller to level the gravel path.

• noun

  Her stress level dropped once the deadline passed.

• adjective

  The builders needed a level surface for the foundation.

• verb

  The storm threatened to level the old barn.

Where does level come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travels back to the Latin libella, a diminutive of libra meaning 'a balance' or 'a pair of scales', the very same libra that named the zodiac sign and the pound weight. The libella was specifically the little instrument builders used to check that a surface was truly horizontal, what we would now call a spirit level. Old French softened this into livel, and English took it up in the 1300s, first for the carpenter's tool and then for the flat, even surface the tool was used to verify. From the idea of an even horizontal plane the meaning spread outward to a position on a scale, a degree or amount, and the adjective sense of flat or balanced. Because the second syllable is an unstressed schwa, writers sometimes hesitate over the vowel, but remembering the Latin libra (balance) helps fix the single l in the middle and the -el ending.

How the word is built

• level (from Latin libella, a little balance or plumb line; not separable into modern prefix and suffix)