Rigid

How to spell rigid

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce rigid

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rigid mean?

1. adjectiveStiff and unable to bend, or strict and unwilling to change.

Rigid in a sentence

• The metal frame stayed completely rigid under the heavy load.

• The company enforces a rigid dress code in the office.

Where does rigid come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin adjective rigidus, meaning 'stiff' or 'hard', which was formed from the verb rigere, 'to be stiff or numb with cold'. The same root carried a sense of something frozen, unbending, and unable to soften, and that physical inflexibility is exactly what the word still describes today. English borrowed it directly from the Latin form in the early 1500s, keeping both the literal sense of a body or material that will not bend and the figurative sense of a person or rule that will not yield. The closely related noun 'rigour' shares this same Latin family, which is a useful memory hook: both words are about hardness and strictness. The spelling is mercifully regular, with the simple -id ending found in a whole cluster of Latin descriptors such as 'vivid', 'placid', and 'lucid'.

How the word is built

• rig- (from Latin rigere: to be stiff)
• -id (adjective suffix meaning 'in a state of')