Sceptical

How to spell sceptical

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce sceptical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sceptical mean?

1. adjectiveInclined to doubt or question a claim rather than accept it without evidence.

Sceptical in a sentence

• The auditors remained sceptical about the inflated revenue figures.

• Many investors were sceptical of the promised returns and held back their money.

Where does sceptical come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek skeptikos, which meant 'inquiring' or 'given to reflection', built on the verb skeptesthai, 'to look at carefully, to consider or examine'. In ancient philosophy the Skeptikoi were a school of thinkers who doubted that certain knowledge was possible and so kept questioning every claim, and that doubting habit is exactly the modern flavour of the word. It travelled into Latin as scepticus and then into French as sceptique before reaching English in the late 1500s. The British spelling keeps the Greek-into-Latin 'sc' opening, which is the chief trap: it is pronounced like a hard 'k', so writers are tempted to spell it 'skeptical' (the form that became standard in American English). Remembering that it shares its 'scept' root with the philosophical Sceptics helps anchor the otherwise counter-intuitive 'sc'.

How the word is built

• scept- (from Greek skeptikos: inquiring, thoughtful)
• -ical (adjective-forming suffix)

British and American spelling

Sceptical is the British spelling. American English spells it skeptical.