Navy

How to spell navy

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce navy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does navy mean?

1. nounA nation's organised force of warships and the personnel who operate them.
2. nounA very dark shade of blue, as traditionally worn by sailors.

Navy in a sentence

• He served in the navy for twelve years before retiring.

• She painted the front door a deep navy to match the shutters.

• The navy deployed three destroyers to patrol the coast.

• The dress code called for a suit in charcoal or navy.

Where does navy come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word navy comes ultimately from the Latin navis, meaning 'ship', the same root that gives us 'naval', 'navigate', and 'nave', the long central hall of a church whose shape reminded builders of an upturned hull. From navis grew the Late Latin navia and the Vulgar Latin navita, meaning a fleet or a body of ships, which passed into Old French as navie. English borrowed it in the 1300s, where it first meant ships in general or a fleet, before settling on its modern sense of a nation's organised force of warships. The deep blue uniforms worn by sailors in the British fleet gave rise to the colour name 'navy blue' in the nineteenth century, later shortened simply to navy. The single v and the unstressed -y ending are the only spots to watch, since the word stays close to its compact Latin parent.

How the word is built

• nav- (from Latin navis: ship)
• -y (noun suffix denoting a collective or condition)