Merits

How to spell merits

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce merits

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does merits mean?

1. nounThe good qualities, strengths, or intrinsic worth of something, especially as weighed against its faults.
2. verbDeserves or is worthy of, as in attention, reward, or consideration.

Merits in a sentence

• noun

  The committee weighed the merits of each application before deciding.

• verb

  The report merits a careful read before the board meets.

• noun

  Every proposal should be judged on its own merits rather than on who submitted it.

• verb

  Her steady work over the year merits a proper raise.

Where does merits come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin meritum, meaning 'a reward', 'a service', or 'something deserved', which was the neuter past participle of the verb merere, 'to earn' or 'to deserve'. The same verb gives us the sense of working for something and getting your due, and it underlies relatives such as 'meritorious' and 'emeritus'. Latin meritum passed into Old French as merite, carrying the idea of moral worth and the qualities that earn praise, and English adopted it during the 1200s and 1300s. The plural and verb form 'merits' developed naturally in English: the noun came to mean the genuine virtues or strong points of a thing, while the verb came to mean 'to deserve'. The spelling stays close to its Latin root, so the trap is simply remembering the single t before the -s ending.

How the word is built

• merit (from Latin meritum: a reward, a deserving)
• -s (plural noun / third-person singular verb ending)