Publishes

How to spell publishes

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce publishes

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does publishes mean?

1. verbPrepares and issues printed or digital material for public sale or distribution.

Publishes in a sentence

• The university press publishes several academic journals each year.

• That company publishes both novels and travel guides.

Where does publishes come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the third person singular present form of the verb 'publish', which English took from Old French in the 1300s. The French verb was 'publier', and that in turn came from the Latin 'publicare', meaning 'to make public' or 'to bring something before the people'. The Latin root sits in the word 'publicus', meaning 'of the people' or 'belonging to the community'. English added the familiar '-ish' ending seen in verbs like 'finish' and 'banish', and the spelling settled with that ending even though the sound is simply 'sh'. The unusual leap is in the meaning: a word that once meant simply making anything generally known narrowed over the centuries to the specific business of printing and issuing books, journals, and other works for sale. The '-es' ending is added because the base already ends in the 'sh' sound, which is the same reason 'washes' and 'pushes' take '-es' rather than a bare 's'.

How the word is built

• public- (from Latin publicare: to make public)
• -ish (verb-forming, via Old French)
• -es (third person singular present)