Papal

How to spell papal

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce papal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does papal mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the pope or to the office and authority of the pope.

Papal in a sentence

• The papal visit drew enormous crowds to the city square.

• Historians studied the papal archives for records of medieval church policy.

Where does papal come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Medieval Latin papalis, meaning 'of or relating to the pope'. That adjective was built on papa, the Late Latin and Church Latin word for the pope or a bishop, which originally just meant 'father' as a child's affectionate term. Latin in turn borrowed it from the Greek pappas, a familiar word a child used for a father, much like 'papa' in modern languages. English took papal in through Old French in the 1300s, and the same papa root still sits inside everyday words like 'pope' and the affectionate 'papa'. The spelling trap is simple but real: there is only one p in the middle and the ending is -al, not -le, so the whole word stays neat and light with single consonants throughout.

How the word is built

• pap- (from Latin papa: pope, father)
• -al (adjective suffix)