Negligible

How to spell negligible

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce negligible

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does negligible mean?

1. adjectiveSo small or unimportant as to be not worth considering.

Negligible in a sentence

• The difference in price between the two suppliers was negligible once delivery was included.

• After the upgrade, the delay on the website became negligible.

Where does negligible come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb neglegere, later spelled negligere, which literally meant 'to not pick up' or 'to disregard', formed from neg- 'not' and legere 'to gather, choose, or read'. From that verb Latin produced the idea of something so small or unimportant that it could safely be left ungathered, that is, neglected. English borrowed the adjective in the early 1800s, by way of French negligeable, to describe a quantity too trifling to be worth noticing. The very same legere root sits inside familiar words like 'collect', 'select' and 'legible', all of which involve gathering or choosing. Remembering that the heart of the word is the same -lig- you hear in 'eligible' and 'intelligible' helps explain why it ends in -ible rather than -able, and why that middle 'g' is sounded softly.

How the word is built

• neglig- (from Latin neglegere: to disregard, to neglect)
• -ible (able to be, worthy of)