Observation

How to spell observation

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce observation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does observation mean?

1. nounThe act of watching or monitoring something carefully, or a remark made about what was noticed.

Observation in a sentence

• The nurse kept the patient under observation overnight.

• His sharp observation about the budget changed the meeting.

Where does observation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb observare, which meant 'to watch over', 'to attend to', or 'to keep an eye on', built from the prefix ob- meaning 'towards' and servare meaning 'to watch, guard, or keep'. The Latin noun observatio described the act of watching closely or paying careful attention. English took the word in through Old French observation during the 1300s, when it first carried senses tied to obeying rules and keeping religious customs, an idea still alive in 'observe the Sabbath'. Over time the meaning settled on the modern sense of watching something carefully and the remark you make about what you noticed. The same servare root sits inside 'preserve', 'conserve', and 'reserve', all of which involve keeping or guarding something. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle: it is observ-ation, so the 'er' vowel and the single 's' are easy to garble.

How the word is built

• ob- (towards)
• serv (from servare: to watch, keep)
• -ation (noun of action)