Polished

How to spell polished

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce polished

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does polished mean?

1. verbRubbed a surface to make it smooth and shiny.
2. adjectiveHaving a smooth, glossy surface produced by rubbing.
3. adjectiveShowing skill, elegance, or refinement; free of rough edges.

Polished in a sentence

• verb

  She polished the silver cutlery before the dinner guests arrived.

• adjective

  The dining table had a deep, polished finish that reflected the candles.

• adjective

  The candidate gave a confident, polished answer to every interview question.

• verb

  He polished his leather shoes until they gleamed.

• adjective

  Her polished nails caught the light at the reception.

• adjective

  His polished manners put the nervous clients at ease.

Where does polished come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base verb polish came into English in the early 1300s from Old French poliss-, the extended stem of polir, which in turn descended from the Latin verb polire meaning 'to make smooth or bright'. The Latin original literally referred to rubbing a surface until it shone, and that physical sense of buffing wood, stone, or metal is still the core meaning today. From the concrete idea of a smooth, gleaming surface, English speakers soon stretched the word figuratively to describe people and performances that have been refined and made elegant, much as one refines a rough object. The form 'polished' is simply the past tense and past participle, and it doubles as an adjective; the spelling keeps the single 'l' and 'sh' of polish, so the only thing to remember is the regular '-ed' ending with no doubling. A useful relative is the noun 'polish' itself, the substance you apply, which shares the exact same root.

How the word is built

• polish (from Latin polire: to make smooth)
• -ed (past tense / participle / adjective suffix)