Ordinance

How to spell ordinance

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce ordinance

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ordinance mean?

1. nounA rule or law issued by a municipal or other governing authority.

Ordinance in a sentence

• The city council passed a new ordinance banning parking on that street overnight.

• The noise ordinance prohibits construction work before seven in the morning.

Where does ordinance come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb ordinare, meaning 'to set in order' or 'to arrange', which was itself built on ordo, ordinis, the Latin noun for 'order', 'rank', or 'arrangement'. From ordinare came the Medieval Latin ordinantia, 'something ordained or decreed', and English received it through the Old French ordenance in the early 1300s. The early senses ranged widely, covering arrangement, regulation, and even a formal decree handed down by an authority, before settling into the modern meaning of an official rule or law issued by a municipal body. The same Latin ordo lies behind a whole family of relatives, including 'order', 'ordain', 'ordinary', and 'coordinate', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the di of ordin- rather than collapsing. That ordin- spelling is exactly what separates ordinance, a regulation, from the look-alike ordnance, which means military weapons and supplies and has lost its middle vowel.

How the word is built

• ordin- (from Latin ordo, ordinis: order, arrangement)
• -ance (noun suffix denoting an action or result)