Material

How to spell material

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce material

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does material mean?

1. nounThe matter or substance from which something is made, including cloth used for clothing.
2. adjectiveImportant or relevant enough to affect a decision or outcome, especially in legal or financial contexts.

Material in a sentence

• noun

  She chose a soft cotton material for the curtains.

• adjective

  The lawyer argued that the omission was material to the verdict.

• noun

  The builders ordered enough material to finish the wall.

• adjective

  Any material change to the contract must be reported in writing.

Where does material come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin materia, which meant 'matter', 'stuff', or the raw substance from which something is made; it was itself connected to mater, meaning 'mother', through the image of a source or origin that produces things. The Romans also used materia for timber, the workable wood a builder turned into a structure, and that practical sense of usable raw stuff carried forward. Late Latin formed the adjective materialis, 'relating to matter', and English took the word in during the 1300s by way of Old French, where it appeared as materiel. From the broad idea of physical substance the meanings branched out: cloth and fabric, the facts gathered for a piece of work, and the abstract sense of something being 'substantial' or important enough to matter, which is why a lawyer speaks of a material fact. The shared mater root still links it to relatives such as 'matter' and 'maternal', a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the single t and the -ial ending.

How the word is built

• mater- (from Latin materia: matter, stuff, the substance things are made of)
• -ial (adjective/noun suffix)