Prolonged

How to spell prolonged

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce prolonged

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prolonged mean?

1. adjectiveContinuing for a long time; extended beyond the usual or expected duration.

Prolonged in a sentence

• The patient needed a prolonged course of antibiotics to clear the infection.

• After a prolonged silence, the negotiators finally resumed talks.

Where does prolonged come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb prolongare, meaning 'to extend in time or length', which was built from pro-, meaning 'forth' or 'forward', and longus, meaning 'long'. The verb passed into Old French as prolonguer before English adopted 'prolong' in the late 1300s, originally in the sense of postponing or deferring something. The adjective 'prolonged', meaning drawn out over a long period, simply adds the regular past-participle ending -ed to that verb. The Latin longus is the same root that gives English the everyday word 'long' itself, so the spelling is logical once you see 'long' sitting in the middle. The common slip is forgetting that the ordinary word 'long' is fully preserved inside it, complete with its single L and silent presence of the -ed ending after the hard g.

How the word is built

• pro- (forth, forward)
• long (long)
• -ed (past participle/adjective suffix)