Receive
verbTo be given, paid, or sent something, or to take delivery of it.
How to spell receive
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce receive
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does receive mean?
- verbTo be given, paid, or sent something, or to take delivery of it.
Receive in a sentence
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Did you receive my email?
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I expect to receive a reply by Monday.
Where does receive come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word comes from the Latin recipere, meaning 'to take back' or 'to regain', built from the prefix re- 'back' and capere 'to take or seize'. English borrowed it during the 1200s through Old French receivre, where the spelling shifted away from the original Latin -cip- form. The same capere root sits behind a large family of English words including capture, accept, receipt and capable, all carrying the idea of taking or holding. The notorious spelling trap is the order of the vowels: the 'i before e except after c' rule applies here, so the c is followed by 'ei', not 'ie'. That schoolroom rhyme is exactly why receive is worth practising, since the partner word 'believe' takes the opposite order.
How the word is built
- re- (back)
- ceive (from Latin capere: to take or grasp)
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