Make

How to spell make

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce make

What does make mean?

1. verbTo create, produce, or bring something into existence.
2. nounThe brand or manufacturer of a product, especially a vehicle.

Make in a sentence

• verb

  She wanted to make a cake for the office party.

• noun

  The insurer asked for the make and model of the damaged car.

• verb

  The new policy will make the application process much simpler.

• noun

  He could identify the make of any motorcycle at a glance.

Where does make come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a thoroughly native English word, descending from the Old English verb macian, which meant 'to fashion, prepare, build, or produce'. It belongs to a broad West Germanic family, with close cousins in Dutch (maken) and German (machen), all tracing back to a root that carried the sense of 'fitting things together' or 'kneading into shape'. From its earliest use it covered the practical act of creating something by hand, and over the centuries it spread into countless figurative uses, from making a decision to making money. Because it has always been a core everyday word, its spelling stayed short and regular, with the silent final 'e' simply marking the long vowel in the modern form. The noun sense, as in the make of a car, is a much later development that grew naturally out of the verb's idea of how something was produced.

How the word is built

• make (from Old English macian: to fashion, build, produce); a single root verb with no prefix or suffix