Reflected

How to spell reflected

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce reflected

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reflected mean?

1. verbThrew back light, heat, or an image from a surface; or thought carefully about something.

Reflected in a sentence

• The calm lake reflected the mountains perfectly at dawn.

• She reflected on the decision for several days before replying.

Where does reflected come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin reflectere, which literally meant 'to bend back', built from the prefix re- meaning 'back' and the verb flectere meaning 'to bend'. In medieval Latin it was applied to light and heat that turned back from a surface, and that physical sense carried over into English in the late 1300s through Old French. From the idea of light bending back, the figurative meaning developed: to think carefully is to turn one's mind back over something, a kind of mental reflection. The same flectere root sits inside relatives such as 'flexible', 'deflect', and 'inflection', all of which involve bending. The spelling keeps the single 'l' and the silent-looking flect root, so the only real trap is remembering it follows the regular -ed ending rather than any irregular form.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• flect (from flectere: to bend)
• -ed (past tense)