Naval

How to spell naval

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce naval

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does naval mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to a navy, its ships, or warfare at sea.

Naval in a sentence

• The museum displayed uniforms from several naval campaigns.

• His grandfather served at a naval base on the coast.

Where does naval come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin navalis, meaning 'relating to ships', which was formed from navis, the Latin word for a ship. The same navis lies behind a whole fleet of English words, including 'navy', 'navigate', and even 'nave', the long central body of a church that early observers thought resembled an upturned ship's hull. English adopted naval in the early 1500s, borrowing it directly from Latin to describe matters of warships and sea power as nations built their fleets. The trap in spelling is the unstressed second vowel, written 'a' to keep faith with the Latin navalis; this is exactly what separates it from its homophone 'navel', the belly button, which descends from an entirely different Old English root. Remembering the 'navy' connection keeps the 'a' in place.

How the word is built

• nav- (from Latin navis: ship)
• -al (adjective suffix: relating to)