Member

How to spell member

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce member

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does member mean?

1. nounA person belonging to a group, club, organisation, or other body.

Member in a sentence

• Every member of the committee received a copy of the agenda.

• She became a full member of the tennis club after paying the annual fee.

Where does member come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin membrum, which literally meant a 'limb' or a bodily part, the arms and legs that make up a whole body. Latin speakers extended this physical sense to mean any component part of a larger whole. English borrowed it through Old French as membre during the 1200s, at first keeping the original anatomical meaning of a limb. From there it broadened to mean a person who belongs to a group, club, or body, the same metaphor we still use when we call a parliament a 'body' made of members. The b in the Latin root quietly disappeared from the English spelling, leaving the simple memb-er that occasionally trips people who expect a doubled letter.

How the word is built

• membr- (from Latin membrum: limb, part of the body)
• -er (English noun spelling reflecting the dropped French vowel)