Single

How to spell single

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce single

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does single mean?

1. adjectiveConsisting of only one; not one of several.
2. adjectiveNot married or not in a romantic relationship.
3. verbTo select one person or thing from a larger group for special attention.
4. nounA song released on its own, usually to promote an album.

Single in a sentence

• adjective

  A single payment cleared the entire balance.

• adjective

  She stayed single until her late thirties by choice.

• verb

  The manager tends to single out the newest staff for praise.

• noun

  The band released a new single ahead of the album.

• adjective

  Not a single mistake appeared in the final report.

• adjective

  The form asks whether you are single or married.

Where does single come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin singulus, meaning 'one alone' or 'separate', which was usually found in the plural singuli, 'one at a time'. English took it in during the 1300s through Old French sengle, and it first carried the sense of 'unaccompanied' or 'one and no more'. Over the centuries it spread to describe an unmarried person, a one-way journey, and eventually a one-track music release, all flowing naturally from the core idea of just one. The same singulus root sits inside 'singular', 'singleton', and even 'singlet', so the cluster of 'sing' followed by 'gle' is the same wherever it appears. The spelling trap is the soft -gle ending, which sounds like 'gul' but is written g-l-e, just as in 'jungle' and 'mingle'.

How the word is built

• sing- (from Latin singulus: one alone, separate)
• -le (suffix surviving from the Latin diminutive form)