Marvellous

How to spell marvellous

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce marvellous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does marvellous mean?

1. adjectiveExtremely good, impressive, or causing great admiration.

Marvellous in a sentence

• The team did a marvellous job finishing the project ahead of schedule.

• We had a marvellous time at the coastal cottage over the long weekend.

Where does marvellous come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Latin mirabilis, meaning 'wonderful' or 'astonishing', which was built on the verb mirari, 'to wonder at' or 'to admire'. From mirabilis came the Old French merveille, a noun for a wonder or astonishing thing, and the adjective merveillos, 'causing wonder'. English borrowed both in the 1300s, giving us the noun 'marvel' and, shortly after, the adjective 'marvellous'. The same mirari root still shines through in relatives such as 'miracle', 'mirror', and 'admire', all of which carry that core idea of looking at something with wonder. In British and Canadian spelling the single-l 'marvel' doubles its l before the -ous ending, producing 'marvellous', which is exactly the doubling that trips up writers who are used to the American 'marvelous'.

How the word is built

• marvel (from Latin mirabilis: wonderful)
• -l- (doubled before suffix)
• -ous (adjective suffix: full of)

British and American spelling

Marvellous is the British spelling. American English spells it marvelous.