Resist

How to spell resist

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce resist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does resist mean?

1. verbTo withstand, oppose, or refuse to give in to something.

Resist in a sentence

• She could not resist the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.

• The new coating helps the metal resist rust and corrosion.

Where does resist come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb resistere, which meant 'to stand back', 'to withstand', or 'to oppose'. It was built from the prefix re-, carrying the sense of 'back' or 'against', joined to sistere, meaning 'to take a stand' or 'to bring to a stop'. That sistere is itself a doubled, intensified form of the common Latin verb stare, 'to stand', which also gives English a whole family of relatives such as 'stable', 'station', and 'persist'. English picked up the word in the late fourteenth century through Old French resister, keeping both the spelling and the idea of holding firm against a force. Because the root literally pictures someone planting their feet and refusing to move, the single s in the 'sist' part is the genuine ancestral spelling rather than a doubled one.

How the word is built

• re- (back, against)
• sist (from sistere: to take a stand, stop)