Security

How to spell security

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce security

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does security mean?

1. nounThe state of being protected from danger, loss, or threat.
2. nounA tradable financial instrument such as a share or bond.

Security in a sentence

• The airport tightened security after the warning.

• The fund holds a government security that matures next year.

• A steady job gave her a real sense of security.

• Each security in the portfolio carries a different level of risk.

Where does security come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin securitas, meaning 'freedom from care' or 'safety', a noun built on the adjective securus. That adjective was itself formed from se-, meaning 'without', and cura, meaning 'care' or 'worry', so the original literal idea was a person 'without anxiety'. English took the word in during the 1400s, partly through Old French, and the early sense was very much the inner one of feeling untroubled before it broadened to outward protection against danger, loss, or attack. The same cura root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'cure', 'curious', and 'curator', all touching the idea of taking care. The financial sense, a document giving a creditor a claim, grew later because such a paper made a lender feel safe, and the spelling stays steady around that -curity ending that mirrors the parent securus.

How the word is built

• secur- (from Latin securus: free from care, safe)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix denoting a state or quality)