Shortage

How to spell shortage

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce shortage

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does shortage mean?

1. nounA situation in which there is not enough of something that is needed.

Shortage in a sentence

• The hospital warned of a serious staff shortage over the winter.

• A fuel shortage left long queues at every petrol station.

Where does shortage come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built on the native English adjective 'short', which traces back to the Old English 'sceort', meaning 'not long' or 'lacking in length'. To that core English word was added the suffix '-age', a noun-forming ending borrowed from Old French and ultimately from the Latin '-aticum', which turns a word into the name of a state, condition, or amount. So 'shortage' literally describes the condition of being short of something, that is, of falling below the needed quantity. The word appeared in English around the middle of the 1800s, a fairly late formation compared with its ancient root, and it spread quickly during periods of war and rationing when supplies of food and fuel ran low. Its spelling is reassuringly regular: the only mild trap is remembering that the soft '-age' ending is spelled with an 'a' rather than the sound it suggests.

How the word is built

• short (adjective: not enough, lacking)
• -age (noun suffix denoting a state or condition)