Sophomore

How to spell sophomore

9 letters · 2 syllables

The most common mistake is sophmore. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.

sophmore sophomore

What people typed instead

• sophmore3 people

How to pronounce sophomore

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sophomore mean?

1. nounA student in the second year of a high school, college, or university course.
2. adjectiveRelating to or characteristic of the second year of study.

Sophomore in a sentence

• noun

  As a sophomore she finally felt settled into campus life.

• adjective

  The sophomore class organised a fundraiser for the spring trip.

• noun

  The dormitory housed mostly freshman and sophomore students.

• adjective

  She joined the sophomore debate team after a strong first year.

Where does sophomore come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes from two Greek elements joined into a single playful idea: sophos, meaning 'wise', and moros, meaning 'foolish' or 'dull' (the same moros that gives us 'moron'). The combination paints a second-year student as a 'wise fool', someone who has learned just enough to be confident but not yet enough to be truly knowledgeable. It first appeared in English in the early 1600s, in forms such as 'sophumer', likely shaped by the old word 'sophism', meaning a clever but flawed argument. Over time the spelling settled on the modern form, with that easily forgotten middle 'o' in 'sopho-'. The word took firm root in American and Canadian schooling to label the second year of study, and the hidden second 'o' is exactly the letter writers tend to drop, producing the common misspelling 'sophmore'.

How the word is built

• soph- (from Greek sophos: wise)
• -more (from Greek moros: foolish, dull)