Residue

How to spell residue

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce residue

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does residue mean?

1. nounA small amount of something that remains after the main part has gone, been used, or evaporated.

Residue in a sentence

• A sticky residue was left on the worktop after the spill dried.

• The cleaner removed every trace of soap residue from the glass.

Where does residue come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin residuum, meaning 'that which remains', a noun formed from the adjective residuus, 'left over' or 'remaining'. That in turn grew from the verb residere, 'to sit back' or 'to be left behind', built from re-, meaning 'back', and sedere, 'to sit', so the literal image is of something that stays seated while everything else moves on. English took the word through Old French residu in the late 1300s, originally in legal and financial contexts for the part of an estate left after debts and gifts were settled. The same sedere root sits quietly inside relatives such as 'reside', 'sediment', and 'sedentary', all sharing that sense of settling or staying put. The slightly awkward -ue ending is a fossil of the French spelling, and it is the part writers most often hesitate over.

How the word is built

• re- (back, behind)
• sid- (from Latin sedere: to sit)
• -ue (noun ending)