Municipality

How to spell municipality

12 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce municipality

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does municipality mean?

1. nounA town, city, or district that has its own local government, or that governing body itself.

Municipality in a sentence

• The municipality is responsible for collecting refuse and maintaining the roads.

• Each municipality sets its own property tax rate within state limits.

Where does municipality come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin municipium, the term for a town in the Roman world whose free citizens held Roman privileges while still managing their own local affairs. That noun was built from municeps, literally a person who takes on civic duties, combining munus, meaning a duty, charge, or public office, with capere, meaning to take or assume. From municipium came the adjective municipalis, describing anything belonging to such a self-governing town, and English adopted municipal in the sixteenth century before extending it with -ity to name the governing body or district itself. The same munus root survives in 'remuneration' and in 'munificent', while capere lurks in 'capture' and 'capable'. The tricky spelling, two unstressed i sounds either side of the stressed -PAL-, is easier to hold onto once you see the buried Latin pieces muni and cip rather than guessing by ear.

How the word is built

• muni- (from munus: duty, public office)
• -cip- (from capere: to take on)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ity (noun suffix, state or body)