Produce

How to spell produce

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce produce

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does produce mean?

1. verbTo make, manufacture, or bring something into existence.
2. nounFresh fruit and vegetables, especially as sold or grown on a farm.

Produce in a sentence

• verb

  The factory can produce a thousand units a day.

• noun

  The market sells local produce straight from nearby farms.

• verb

  These vines produce a rich, dark grape every autumn.

• noun

  She stacked the fresh produce neatly in the shop window.

Where does produce come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin verb producere, which literally meant 'to lead forward' or 'to bring forth', built from pro 'forward' and ducere 'to lead'. English adopted it in the fifteenth century, at first in the sense of bringing something into view or extending it forward, and only later settling on the modern idea of making or yielding something. The same ducere root, meaning 'to lead', is hidden inside a whole family of English words such as conduct, reduce, introduce and educate, all of which involve some kind of leading or drawing out. The stress shifted to create a noun and a verb from a single spelling: the verb pro-DUCE keeps the original 'lead forth' action, while the noun PRO-duce names the things led forth, especially what a farm yields. Because the spelling never changes between the two, the only clue to which is meant is the stress and the surrounding sentence.

How the word is built

• pro- (forth, forward)
• duce (from Latin ducere: to lead, bring)