Rivalries

How to spell rivalries

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce rivalries

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rivalries mean?

1. nounInstances of intense competition between people, teams, or organisations for the same prize or position.

Rivalries in a sentence

• The league is famous for the fierce rivalries between its oldest clubs.

• Office rivalries over the promotion soured the whole department.

Where does rivalries come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin rivalis, which literally described people who shared the same rivus, meaning 'stream' or 'brook'. Neighbours drawing water from the same channel naturally competed over it, so rivalis came to mean a competitor or someone with a claim on the same thing. English borrowed 'rival' from French and Latin in the late 1500s, and the abstract noun 'rivalry' soon followed, formed with the suffix -ry that marks a state or condition. The plural 'rivalries' simply changes the final -y to -ies, as English does for nouns ending in a consonant plus y. The hidden 'stream' origin is a useful memory hook: a rival is, at root, just the person fishing the same water.

How the word is built

• rival (from Latin rivalis: one using the same stream)
• -ry (condition or state)
• -ies (plural of words ending in -y)