Science

How to spell science

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce science

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does science mean?

1. nounThe systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the natural world through observation and experiment.

Science in a sentence

• She studied science at university before becoming a doctor.

• The museum has a whole wing devoted to science and technology.

Where does science come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Science comes from the Latin scientia, meaning 'knowledge' or 'a knowing', which was formed from the verb scire, 'to know'. English took it through Old French in the 14th century, where it first meant knowledge or learning in a broad sense, covering any body of organised understanding. For centuries it simply meant skill or expertise in any subject, and only in the 1700s and 1800s did it narrow to the modern sense of systematic study of the natural world through observation and experiment. The same scire root survives in relatives like 'conscience' (literally 'knowing with oneself') and 'omniscient' ('all-knowing'). The tricky spelling comes straight from that Latin sci- beginning, where the c is sounded but invisible to the ear, which is why writers sometimes drop it.

How the word is built

• sci- (from scire: to know)
• -ence (noun suffix denoting state or quality)