Sequel

How to spell sequel

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sequel

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sequel mean?

1. nounA book, film, or other work that continues the story of an earlier one.
2. nounA result or development that follows from an earlier event.

Sequel in a sentence

• The studio announced a sequel to last summer's hit film.

• The layoffs were a direct sequel to the company's failed merger.

• Readers waited three years for the sequel to her debut novel.

• As a sequel to the storm, the council reviewed its flood defences.

Where does sequel come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin sequela, meaning 'that which follows' or 'a consequence', built on the verb sequi, which literally meant 'to follow'. By the late Middle Ages this had passed into Old French and Anglo-Norman as sequele, and English adopted it in the fifteenth century to mean a result or consequence of something that came before. Over time the sense narrowed toward what we now recognise: a story, film, or book that continues an earlier one. The same sequi root quietly powers a surprising family of English words, including 'consequence', 'sequence', and 'subsequent', all carrying the idea of one thing trailing after another. Keeping that 'follow' meaning in mind helps with the spelling, because the unstressed ending is written -el rather than the more common -le or -al.

How the word is built

• sequ- (from Latin sequi: to follow)
• -el (noun suffix)