Multiple

How to spell multiple

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce multiple

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does multiple mean?

1. adjectiveConsisting of, involving, or having many parts, elements, or occurrences.
2. nounA number that contains another number an exact whole number of times.

Multiple in a sentence

• adjective

  The patient had multiple injuries after the accident.

• noun

  Twelve is a multiple of three and of four.

• adjective

  The form allows multiple entries for each applicant.

• noun

  The teacher asked for the smallest common multiple of six and eight.

Where does multiple come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin multiplex, meaning 'having many folds' or 'manifold', which was built from multus, meaning 'much' or 'many', and the root -plex, related to plicare, 'to fold'. English took it through French in the 1600s, where the sense had broadened from literal folding to anything occurring in great number or in several parts. The same -plex element appears in close relatives such as 'complex', 'duplex', and 'perplex', all carrying the idea of folding or layering. The mathematical noun sense, a number that contains another a whole number of times, settled into English by the early nineteenth century. The spelling trap is gentle but real: the unstressed ending sounds like 'pul' yet is written -ple, echoing its Latin -plex ancestry.

How the word is built

• multi- (many)
• -ple (from Latin -plex: fold, layer)