Remuneration

How to spell remuneration

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce remuneration

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does remuneration mean?

1. nounMoney or other compensation paid to someone for work done or services provided.

Remuneration in a sentence

• The contract sets out the remuneration for each consultant on the project.

• Staff complained that their remuneration had not kept pace with rising costs.

Where does remuneration come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin remuneratio, the noun formed from the verb remunerari, meaning 'to pay back' or 'to reward'. That verb was built from the prefix re-, here adding the sense of giving something in return, and munus, a noun that literally meant a gift, a service, or a duty owed; the same munus sits behind 'munificent' (lavishly generous) and 'municipal'. English took the word in through Old French and Latin scholarship in the fifteenth century, using it for the act of paying someone for work or services rendered. The key spelling trap is hidden in its origin: the root is muner, from munus, and has nothing to do with 'number', yet many writers swap the letters and produce the non-word 'renumeration' by accidentally borrowing from 'enumerate'. Remembering that you are rewarding someone (muner, a gift) rather than counting them keeps the letters in the right order.

How the word is built

• re- (intensive: in return)
• muner- (from Latin munus: gift, reward, service)
• -ation (noun suffix)