Official

How to spell official

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce official

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does official mean?

1. adjectiveAuthorised by or relating to a person or body in authority; sanctioned and formal.
2. nounA person who holds a position of authority in an organisation or government.

Official in a sentence

• adjective

  The company released an official statement about the merger.

• noun

  A senior government official answered questions from the press.

• adjective

  She received official confirmation of her new salary in writing.

• noun

  The match official reviewed the replay before making a decision.

Where does official come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin officialis, meaning 'relating to duty or service', which was built on officium, the Latin noun for a duty, a service, or a public office. The officium itself came from a blend of opus 'work' and facere 'to do or make', so at heart the word describes the work that a position requires. English took it in through Old French in the 1300s, at first as an adjective for things sanctioned by authority and later as a noun for a person who carries out the duties of an office. The same officium root still lives inside the everyday word 'office', which is a handy memory hook: official keeps the single f and double nothing of office, plus -ial. The classic spelling trap is the -cial ending, which sounds like 'shul' but is never spelled that way.

How the word is built

• offic- (from officium: duty, service, office)
• -ial (adjective/noun suffix)