Lottery
nounA method of raising money or distributing prizes in which numbered tickets are sold and winners are chosen by random draw.
How to spell lottery
7 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce lottery
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does lottery mean?
- nounA method of raising money or distributing prizes in which numbered tickets are sold and winners are chosen by random draw.
- nounSomething whose outcome depends entirely on luck rather than on skill or fairness.
Lottery in a sentence
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She bought a lottery ticket on her way home from work.
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Finding a parking space downtown feels like a complete lottery.
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The national lottery funds many community sports projects.
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Which hospital bed you get can be a lottery on a busy night.
Where does lottery come from?
Language of origin: Dutch
The word lottery comes from the Dutch loterij, which was built on the noun lot, meaning a portion, share, or object drawn to decide something by chance. That Dutch root is itself related to the native English word 'lot', from Old English hlot, the small token or marker once cast to settle a decision fairly. English adopted lottery in the sixteenth century, exactly when public draws for prizes were spreading across northern Europe to raise money for ports, churches, and other civic projects. The familiar spelling reflects the borrowed Dutch ending -erij, which English smoothed into the regular -ery suffix seen in words like bakery and brewery. Because the double 't' and the unstressed -ery ending both sit on weak syllables, the word is occasionally written with a single 't' or with an -ary ending by mistake.
How the word is built
- lott (from lot: a portion or share decided by chance)
- -ery (noun suffix denoting a system or practice)
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