Pollution

How to spell pollution

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce pollution

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pollution mean?

1. nounThe introduction of harmful substances or contaminants into the natural environment.

Pollution in a sentence

• The new factory regulations aim to reduce air pollution in the city.

• Plastic waste in the ocean is a major source of pollution.

Where does pollution come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin polluere, a verb meaning 'to soil, defile, or make unclean', formed from the prefix por- (a variant of pro-, suggesting 'forth') and luere, related to lutum 'mud' or 'dirt'. The Latin noun pollutio carried the sense of defilement or contamination, often in a religious or moral context. English took the word in through Old French during the 1300s, when it still chiefly meant moral or physical corruption and uncleanliness. Only from the nineteenth century, alongside industrial expansion, did it settle into its modern environmental meaning of harmful contamination of air, water, and land. The double 'l' and the - tion ending both trace straight back to that Latin lutum root, which is the helpful clue for spelling it.

How the word is built

• pollut- (from Latin polluere: to defile, soil)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)