Singleton

How to spell singleton

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce singleton

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does singleton mean?

1. nounA single thing of its kind, occurring alone rather than in a group or pair.
2. nounAn unmarried or unattached person, especially one living alone.

Singleton in a sentence

• The survey returned one lonely singleton among dozens of paired results.

• As a contented singleton, he booked the holiday entirely around his own schedule.

• Every other box held a matching pair, but this shelf held only a singleton.

• The cookbook offered small portions aimed at the busy singleton.

Where does singleton come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Singleton was put together from the ordinary word 'single', which traces back through Old French to the Latin singulus, meaning 'one' or 'separate', the same root that gives us 'singular'. The final '-ton' is not a meaningful Latin or Greek piece at all; it was tacked on in playful imitation of words like 'simpleton', giving the noun a person-like ring. The term first surfaced in the card games of the 1800s, where it named a card held alone as the only one of its suit in a hand. From that gaming origin it spread outward, coming to mean any solitary item of its kind, an unmarried person, or a single child born where twins might have been expected. The slightly odd spelling is easier to remember once you see it as plain 'single' with a tidy '-ton' on the end.

How the word is built

• single (from Latin singulus: one, separate)
• -ton (extension on the model of simpleton)