Signal

How to spell signal

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce signal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does signal mean?

1. nounA sign, gesture, sound, or transmitted impulse that conveys information or a command.
2. verbTo make a sign or gesture, or to indicate something to another person.
3. adjectiveNotable, conspicuous, or remarkable.

Signal in a sentence

• noun

  The phone showed no signal in the underground car park.

• verb

  Drivers must signal clearly before changing lanes.

• adjective

  The launch was a signal success for the whole engineering team.

• noun

  A raised hand was the agreed signal to begin the meeting.

• verb

  The conductor will signal to the orchestra when the piece begins.

• adjective

  Her work earned her a signal honour from the institute.

Where does signal come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Signal descends from the Latin signalis, meaning 'of or belonging to a sign', which was built on signum, the ordinary Latin word for a mark, token, or military standard. English took the word in through Old French in the late Middle Ages, and by the 1300s and 1400s it was being used as a noun for a sign agreed in advance to convey a message at a distance. The same signum root sits inside a whole family of familiar English words, including 'sign', 'signature', 'design', and 'insignia', which is a useful reminder that signal keeps the silent 'g' of sign rather than being spelled the way it sounds. The verb sense, meaning to communicate by a sign, grew naturally out of the noun by the 1600s. An older adjective sense survives in phrases like 'a signal achievement', where signal means notable or conspicuous, literally something that stands out like a marker.

How the word is built

• sign (from signum: mark, sign)
• -al (adjective/noun suffix)