Organisational

How to spell organisational

14 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce organisational

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does organisational mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the way a company, group, or system is structured, arranged, and run.

Organisational in a sentence

• The merger created serious organisational problems that took months to resolve.

• Strong organisational skills helped her manage three projects at once.

Where does organisational come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word ultimately traces back to the Greek organon, which literally meant a tool, instrument, or bodily organ; anything that does work. Latin took this up as organum, and by the medieval period the related Latin verb organizare had come to mean 'to arrange into a working whole', the way the parts of a body work together. French passed organiser and the noun organisation into English, and from there the adjective 'organisational' was built by adding the familiar -al ending. The British spelling keeps the -ise of organise and organisation, where American writers favour the -ize forms, and Canadian usage normally follows the American organizational. The long string of unstressed vowels in the middle (the -ani-sa- stretch) is exactly where the spelling trips people, because the schwa sounds give no clue whether to write a, i, or e.

How the word is built

• organ- (from Greek organon: tool, instrument)
• -ise (verb-forming, British spelling)
• -ation (noun-forming)
• -al (adjective-forming)

British and American spelling

Organisational is the British spelling. American English spells it organizational.