Pass

How to spell pass

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce pass

What does pass mean?

1. verbTo move past, go by, or hand something along.
2. nounA document or ticket allowing entry, travel, or access.
3. nounA narrow route through or over mountains.

Pass in a sentence

• verb

  Please pass the bread down the table.

• noun

  The visitor showed her security pass at the front desk.

• noun

  Snow blocked the mountain pass for most of the winter.

• verb

  The bus will pass the station at noon.

• noun

  A monthly travel pass saves commuters money.

• noun

  The hikers reached the high pass by late afternoon.

Where does pass come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English from Old French passer, meaning 'to step, walk, or go by', which itself grew out of the Latin noun passus, literally 'a step' or 'a pace', the distance covered by a single stride. From that idea of stepping forward came the broad sense of moving onward or moving past something, and English borrowed the verb in the 1200s. Over the centuries the meaning branched out richly: to pass an exam (to get through it), to pass a law (to move it through a process), to pass the salt (to move it along), and even to pass away. The same passus root sits inside 'pace', 'passage', and 'passenger', all of which still carry that original notion of moving along a route. Because the word is short and phonetically plain, its spelling has stayed stable and untroublesome ever since.

How the word is built

• pass (from Latin passus: a step, pace)