Matter

How to spell matter

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce matter

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does matter mean?

1. nounA subject, situation, or affair under consideration.
2. nounPhysical substance that occupies space and has mass.
3. verbTo be of importance or to have significance.

Matter in a sentence

• noun

  The lawyer agreed to handle the matter discreetly.

• noun

  Physicists study how matter behaves under extreme pressure.

• verb

  The small details really matter when you sign a contract.

• noun

  We should discuss this matter at the next meeting.

• noun

  Every solid, liquid, and gas is a form of matter.

• verb

  Your opinion does matter to the rest of the team.

Where does matter come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word arrived in English during the 1200s from the Old French matiere, which in turn descended from the Latin materia. In Latin, materia literally meant 'stuff' or 'building material', and it was originally tied to materies, a word for the hard inner wood of a tree, the part you could fashion into timber. From that very physical sense of usable substance, the meaning broadened to cover any physical matter, then the 'subject' or 'topic' of a discussion, and eventually the idea of an affair or thing that concerns someone. The same Latin root sits behind 'material' and 'maternal', since materia also carried the idea of a generative source, like a mother trunk producing wood. The double 't' in the English spelling reflects the short vowel before it, and is the small trap that catches some writers who hear a single tapped consonant.

How the word is built

• matter (from Latin materia: stuff, material, substance)