Ruler

How to spell ruler

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ruler

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ruler mean?

1. nounA flat strip of wood, plastic, or metal marked with units, used to measure length or draw straight lines.
2. nounA person who governs or has supreme authority over a country or people.

Ruler in a sentence

• She used a ruler to draw a straight margin on the page.

• The ancient city was governed by a single ruler for forty years.

• The wooden ruler in his desk drawer was marked in both inches and centimetres.

• History remembers her as a fair and decisive ruler.

Where does ruler come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word ruler comes from the verb rule, which English took from the Old French reuler or riuler, itself from the Latin regulare, meaning 'to control by a rule' or 'to direct'. That Latin verb grew from regula, a 'straight stick' or 'measuring rod', and ultimately from regere, meaning 'to keep straight, to guide or govern'. The agent suffix -er was added in the late 1300s to name a person who governs, and by the 1400s the same form was applied to the straight measuring strip, since both senses trace back to the literal idea of a straight rod. The same regere root sits inside related words such as regulate, regiment, and even regal, which all share the notion of straightening or controlling. The spelling stays steady: keep the single l of rule and simply add -er, resisting any urge to double the consonant.

How the word is built

• rul- (from rule: to govern, to mark a straight line)
• -er (agent or instrument suffix)