Remark

How to spell remark

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce remark

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does remark mean?

1. nounA spoken or written comment, often brief.
2. verbTo say something as a comment, or to take notice of something.

Remark in a sentence

• noun

  Her closing remark drew applause from the board.

• verb

  Visitors often remark on how quiet the village feels.

• noun

  He made an offhand remark that offended the client.

• verb

  She paused to remark that the figures looked unusually high.

Where does remark come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the early 1600s from the French remarquer, meaning 'to mark again' or 'to take notice of'. That French verb was built from the prefix re-, used here as an intensifier, plus marquer, meaning 'to mark' or 'to note', which itself traces back to a Germanic root for a boundary sign or token. The literal idea was to mark something out as worthy of attention, so the early English sense was 'to notice' or 'to observe closely'. From the act of noticing came the act of commenting on what you had noticed, which gave the modern meaning of saying something in passing. The same marquer family also gave English 'remarkable', the quality of being worth marking out, and the kept letter k in remark mirrors that French and Germanic spelling.

How the word is built

• re- (again, intensive)
• mark (to note, observe)