National

How to spell national

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce national

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does national mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or characteristic of a whole nation or country.
2. nounA citizen of a particular country.

National in a sentence

• adjective

  The national census is conducted every ten years.

• noun

  A foreign national must present a valid passport at the border.

• adjective

  Unemployment rose across the national economy last quarter.

• noun

  The embassy assists any national who loses documents abroad.

Where does national come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin natio, which literally meant 'birth' and by extension 'a race, breed, or people', built on natus, the past participle of nasci, meaning 'to be born'. From natio came the medieval Latin adjective nationalis, 'belonging to a nation', which English absorbed through French national in the late 1500s. The same root nasci also gave English 'native', 'nature', 'innate', and 'nascent', all carrying the underlying idea of being born or coming into being. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the letters -ti- are pronounced 'sh', so writers must remember the silent-sounding 'ti' rather than spelling what they hear. Keeping the parent word 'nation' firmly in mind is the simplest way to fix the spelling, since 'national' is just that word plus -al.

How the word is built

• nation (from Latin natio: birth, race, people)
• -al (adjective/noun suffix)