Residual

How to spell residual

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce residual

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does residual mean?

1. adjectiveRemaining after the main part has gone, been used, or been removed.
2. nounA repeat payment made to a performer or writer each time a recorded work is broadcast or reused.

Residual in a sentence

• adjective

  The cleaner left a residual smell of bleach in the kitchen.

• noun

  The actor still earns a small residual every time the old advert airs.

• adjective

  After the renovation, a residual amount of dust settled on every shelf.

• noun

  Her agent tracks each residual owed for reruns of the sitcom.

Where does residual come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb residere, meaning 'to sit back' or 'to remain behind', which was formed from re- 'back' and sedere 'to sit'. From it came the Latin residuum, the noun for 'that which is left over' once everything else has been removed, and the adjective residuus, 'remaining'. English took the adjective form 'residual' in the late 1500s, and the related noun 'residue' arrived even earlier through Old French. The same sedere root that means 'to sit' sits quietly inside a whole family of English words, including 'sediment', 'reside', 'session' and even 'president', all of which involve sitting or settling. Keeping that 'sit' idea in mind helps with the spelling: the single 'd' and the '-sid-' middle echo 'reside' rather than any doubled consonant.

How the word is built

• re- (back, remaining)
• sid (from Latin sedere: to sit, to settle)
• -ual (adjective/noun suffix)