Machinery

How to spell machinery

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce machinery

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does machinery mean?

1. nounMachines as a group, or the working parts of a machine considered together.
2. nounAn organised structure or system that makes something happen, especially in administration or politics.

Machinery in a sentence

• The factory invested in new machinery to speed up production.

• The entire machinery of local government was reviewed after the election.

• Heavy machinery must be switched off before any cleaning begins.

• Reformers wanted to overhaul the machinery of the courts.

Where does machinery come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word is built directly on 'machine', to which the collective suffix '-ery' was added in the seventeenth century to mean a body or system of machines taken together. 'Machine' itself travelled into English through French in the 1500s, where 'machine' meant a structure or contrivance, and French had taken it from the Latin 'machina', meaning an engine, device, or clever construction. The Latin word in turn came from the Greek 'mekhane', literally a means or device for getting something done, the same root that gives us 'mechanic' and 'mechanism'. Over time 'machinery' broadened beyond physical engines to cover any organised system that produces a result, as in 'the machinery of government'. The spelling preserves the French-looking 'ch' pronounced as 'sh' and the unstressed middle, which is why writers sometimes hesitate over the vowels after the stressed 'chine'.

How the word is built

• machine (from Greek mekhane: device, contrivance)
• -ery (noun suffix: collection or apparatus)