Session

How to spell session

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce session

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does session mean?

1. nounA fixed period of time devoted to a particular activity, or a formal sitting of a court, council, or assembly.

Session in a sentence

• The gym booked her in for an early morning training session.

• Parliament held an emergency session to debate the budget.

Where does session come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Session comes from the Latin sessio, which literally meant 'a sitting' or 'the act of sitting down', formed from the verb sedere, meaning 'to sit'. In Roman use it referred to people sitting together for a meeting or to a fixed sitting of a court or council. English took the word through Old French session in the late 1300s, keeping the sense of an organised period during which a body sits to do business, as in a court session or a session of parliament. From there it broadened to mean any set period devoted to one activity, such as a training session or a recording session. The same sedere root quietly sits inside many relatives, including 'sediment', 'preside' and 'sedentary', and the doubled s of session is a direct fossil of the Latin sessio spelling, which is the detail that trips writers who expect a single s.

How the word is built

• sess- (from Latin sedere: to sit)
• -ion (noun suffix forming an action or state)