Necessary

How to spell necessary

9 letters · 4 syllables

18 of the 51 people asked to spell necessary in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.

The most common mistake is neccessary. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.

neccessary necessary

What people typed instead

• neccessary8 people

How to pronounce necessary

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does necessary mean?

1. adjectiveRequired to be done or present; essential and unavoidable.

Necessary in a sentence

• It is necessary to read the instructions carefully.

• Is it really necessary to wear a tie?

• Take only what is necessary for the journey.

Where does necessary come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin necessarius, meaning 'unavoidable' or 'indispensable'. It was built on necesse, an adjective meaning 'inevitable' or 'needful', which most scholars trace to ne- ('not') combined with cedere ('to give way, to yield'): something necessary is literally something you cannot give way to or get around. English took it up in the fourteenth century, partly through Anglo-French necessarie, with the meaning 'required, essential' that it still carries today. The single 'c' followed by a double 's' is exactly the spelling trap, because the word sounds as though it could have a double 'c' as well; the cedere root explains the genuine 'c' but offers no second one. A handy memory aid is that the word needs one Collar (c) and two Sleeves (s).

How the word is built

• ne- (not)
• cess (yield)
• -ary (suffix)