Public

How to spell public

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce public

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does public mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or available to the people of a community or society as a whole.
2. nounThe people of a community or society considered as a whole.

Public in a sentence

• adjective

  The council opened the report to public scrutiny.

• noun

  The gallery is closed to the public during renovations.

• adjective

  The new library offers free public access to computers.

• noun

  The spokesperson urged the public to stay calm.

Where does public come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin publicus, meaning 'belonging to the people' or 'of the state'. The Latin form was shaped by the older word populus, meaning 'the people', and possibly blended with pubes, a term for the adult male population capable of bearing arms. English took it in during the late 1300s by way of Old French public, at first as an adjective describing matters that concerned the whole community rather than private individuals. The same populus root still lives inside familiar words such as 'population', 'popular', and 'republic', the last of which literally meant 'the affair of the people' (res publica). The spelling has stayed remarkably stable, and the absence of any '-ck' or '-que' ending is the small trap that occasionally trips writers used to longer relatives.

How the word is built

• public- (from Latin publicus: of the people)
• adjective/noun usage