Remainder

How to spell remainder

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce remainder

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does remainder mean?

1. nounThe part, amount, or number that is left after the rest has been taken, used, or dealt with.
2. nounThe number that is left over when one number does not divide exactly into another.
3. nounA copy of a book left unsold and offered at a reduced price by the publisher.

Remainder in a sentence

• She paid half the deposit today and will settle the remainder next month.

• When you divide seventeen by five, the remainder is two.

• She picked up the hardback as a remainder for a fraction of the cover price.

• After the meeting overran, we spent the remainder of the afternoon on emails.

• The pupils learned to express the remainder as a fraction.

• The shop kept a table of remainder titles near the entrance.

Where does remainder come from?

Language of origin: French

This word comes from the Anglo-French legal term remainder, which was simply the infinitive 'remaindre' used as a noun, meaning 'that which is left over'. It traces back to the Latin verb remanere, built from re- ('back') and manere ('to stay or remain'), so the literal sense is 'to stay behind'. English took it in during the late 1300s and 1400s, first as a term in property law for an interest in land that 'remained' to pass to someone after a prior holding ended. From that legal root it spread into general use for anything left after a part is taken away, and later into arithmetic for the amount left after division. The same manere root survives in 'mansion' (a place where one stays) and 'permanent' (staying through), and that buried 'main' in the middle is the spelling clue worth holding onto.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• main (from Latin manere: to stay, remain)
• -der (noun-forming suffix)