Perfection

How to spell perfection

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce perfection

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does perfection mean?

1. nounThe condition of being completely free from faults or flaws.

Perfection in a sentence

• The chef polished each dish to perfection before it left the kitchen.

• Years of daily practice brought her violin technique close to perfection.

Where does perfection come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin perfectio, meaning a completing or a finishing, which was built from the verb perficere, 'to carry through to the end' or 'to accomplish'. That verb joined per-, meaning 'thoroughly' or 'completely', with facere, meaning 'to make or do', so the literal idea was something thoroughly made, fully done, with nothing left wanting. English took the word in during the 1300s by way of Old French perfeccion, and it carried the sense of a flawless, finished state from the start. The same facere root sits inside a large family of English words, including 'factory', 'effect', and 'manufacture', all of them about making or doing. Remembering that the core is 'fect' (from facere) rather than 'fict' helps fix the spelling, and the single -tion ending follows the regular pattern seen in 'completion' and 'correction'.

How the word is built

• per- (thoroughly, completely)
• fect (from facere: to make or do)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)