Source

How to spell source

6 letters · 1 syllable

3 of the 22 people asked to spell source in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.

How to pronounce source

What does source mean?

1. nounThe place, person, or thing from which something originates or is obtained.
2. verbTo obtain goods, materials, or services from a particular supplier or origin.

Source in a sentence

• noun

  The journalist refused to name the source of the leaked report.

• verb

  The bakery likes to source its flour from a local mill.

• noun

  Oily fish is a good source of vitamin D.

• verb

  The company tries to source all its timber from sustainable forests.

Where does source come from?

Language of origin: French

The word comes from the Old French sourse, meaning a spring of water or the point where a stream rises, which was a noun formed from the verb sourdre, 'to rise up' or 'spring forth'. That French verb descended from the Latin surgere, which literally meant 'to rise', the same root that gives us 'surge' and 'resurgence'. English borrowed it in the 1300s, first for the spot where a river begins, and then broadened it to mean the origin or starting point of anything, whether information, money, or trouble. The verb sense, meaning to obtain goods from a particular supplier, is a much later development that became common in business English. The silent 'u' after the 's' and the soft 'c' before the final 'e' are both fossils of that French spelling, which is why writers sometimes drop the 'u' or reach for an 's' where the 'c' belongs.

How the word is built

• sourc- (from Latin surgere: to rise, spring up)
• -e