Regional

How to spell regional

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce regional

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does regional mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or characteristic of a particular area or part of a country rather than the whole of it.

Regional in a sentence

• The company opened a new regional office to handle northern accounts.

• Local farmers are proud of their regional cheeses and wines.

Where does regional come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun regio, which meant a direction, a boundary line, and later a district or territory. Regio itself grew from the verb regere, meaning 'to rule, guide, or keep straight', the same root that gives us 'regent', 'regime', and 'direct'. Late Latin formed the adjective regionalis to describe something belonging to a particular district, and English took this in through Old French and Latin during the late Middle Ages. The modern sense, relating to a defined area or part of a country rather than the whole, settled firmly into English by the nineteenth century. For spelling, it helps to see the whole word 'region' sitting intact inside 'regional', with only the tidy '-al' added on the end.

How the word is built

• region- (from Latin regio: district, region)
• -al (adjective suffix)