Multinational

How to spell multinational

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce multinational

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does multinational mean?

1. adjectiveOperating in, involving, or relating to several different countries.
2. nounA large corporation that operates in many countries.

Multinational in a sentence

• adjective

  The multinational company runs offices in twelve countries.

• noun

  The small supplier was eventually bought by a multinational.

• adjective

  She negotiated a multinational trade agreement on behalf of the firm.

• noun

  A powerful multinational controlled most of the regional market.

Where does multinational come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is a relatively modern compound built from Latin parts. The prefix multi- comes from the Latin multus, meaning 'much' or 'many', while the core element traces back to the Latin natio, meaning 'a birth' and by extension 'a race or people', itself from nasci, 'to be born'. English already had 'national' (from Latin natio by way of French) well established by the seventeenth century, and the prefix multi- was bolted onto it to describe something spread across many nations. The full term emerged in the twentieth century, gaining real currency in the 1920s and 1930s and exploding in business writing after the Second World War as companies expanded their operations across many countries. The spelling trap lives in the doubled middle and the unstressed vowels: it is multi (one l, no e) plus national (with its silent-sounding -tio- spelled tion), so writers must resist adding stray letters.

How the word is built

• multi- (many)
• nation (from Latin natio: a people, a nation)
• -al (adjective/noun suffix)