Performance

How to spell performance

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce performance

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does performance mean?

1. nounThe manner or quality with which a task, machine, or person carries out what is required.
2. nounA public presentation of a play, concert, or other entertainment before an audience.

Performance in a sentence

• The manager reviewed each employee's performance at the end of the quarter.

• The evening performance of the ballet sold out within an hour.

• The new engine delivered better fuel economy and stronger performance on the motorway.

• She gave a moving performance as the lead in the new musical.

Where does performance come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back through Anglo-French to the Old French verb parfournir, which meant 'to carry through' or 'to complete'. That verb combined par- (a thoroughly intensifying prefix, from Latin per, meaning 'through' or 'completely') with fournir, meaning 'to furnish' or 'provide'. English took up the verb as 'perform' in the 1300s, and by the late 1400s the noun 'performance' had formed by adding the action-naming suffix -ance. Notice that the original sense was simply about finishing or accomplishing something, which is why we still speak of the 'performance' of a car or a duty, not just of actors on a stage. The opening 'per-' (not 'pre-') is the spelling trap, and remembering the Latin per meaning 'thoroughly' helps fix it.

How the word is built

• per- (thoroughly, completely)
• form (from furnir: to furnish, accomplish)
• -ance (noun of action)