Properties

How to spell properties

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce properties

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does properties mean?

1. nounBuildings or pieces of land that someone owns.
2. nounThe qualities or characteristics that something has, especially in science.
3. nounMovable objects used by actors on stage or in a film, often shortened to props.

Properties in a sentence

• The landlord owns several rental properties across the city.

• The lab tested the chemical properties of the new compound.

• The stage crew stored the costumes and properties backstage.

• Rising interest rates have lowered the value of many properties.

• Copper is valued for its conductive properties.

• The film's properties included antique furniture and old maps.

Where does properties come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin proprietas, meaning 'a quality belonging to a thing' or 'ownership', which was itself built on the adjective proprius, meaning 'one's own' or 'particular to oneself'. English took it through Old French propriete during the 1300s, and over time the single Latin noun spread into two everyday strands of meaning: the things a person owns, and the qualities a thing possesses. The same proprius root sits inside the familiar words 'proper', 'appropriate', and 'proprietor', all sharing the sense of something belonging or being fitting. The plural 'properties' simply takes the noun ending -ty, changes the y to i, and adds -es, the standard English rule for nouns ending in a consonant plus y. Keeping that 'proper' base in mind is the easiest way to anchor the spelling, since the word is literally 'proper' with familiar endings attached.

How the word is built

• proper- (from Latin proprius: one's own)
• -ty (noun-forming suffix denoting state or quality)
• -es (plural ending)