Remnant

How to spell remnant

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce remnant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does remnant mean?

1. nounA small remaining quantity or piece of something larger that has mostly been used, sold, or destroyed.

Remnant in a sentence

• The tailor stitched the cushion from a remnant of velvet.

• Only a small remnant of the original forest still stands near the motorway.

Where does remnant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb manere, meaning 'to stay' or 'to remain', combined with the prefix re-, giving remanere, 'to be left over'. Old French turned the present participle of its related verb into remenant, literally 'remaining', used for the bit that is left behind. English borrowed it in the late 1300s as 'remenant', and over time the unstressed middle vowel was squeezed out in speech, leaving the contracted spelling 'remnant' that we use today. The same manere root sits inside the everyday words 'remain', 'permanent' and 'mansion' (originally a place where one stays). That lost middle vowel is exactly the spelling trap: there is no extra 'e' or 'i' between the m and the n.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• -mn- (from Latin manere: to remain, stay)
• -ant (noun suffix)