Space

How to spell space

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce space

What does space mean?

1. nounAn empty or available area; the room in which things can exist or move.
2. nounThe vast region beyond the Earth's atmosphere where the planets and stars exist.
3. verbTo arrange items with gaps or intervals between them.

Space in a sentence

• noun

  There was just enough space in the wardrobe for one more coat.

• noun

  The satellite was launched into space on a clear morning.

• verb

  Try to space the appointments evenly across the week.

• noun

  The new office has plenty of space for a second desk.

• noun

  Astronauts spend months living in space aboard the station.

• verb

  The gardener will space the seedlings a hand's width apart.

Where does space come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin spatium, which meant an extent, an interval, or a stretch of ground, and could refer either to distance covered or to a period of time. English took it through Old French as espace during the 1200s, and the initial e was gradually dropped to leave the modern form space. For centuries the everyday meaning was simply an empty area or an interval, whether of distance or of time, which is why we still speak of a space of two hours. The astronomical sense, the vast emptiness beyond Earth's atmosphere, is comparatively recent and grew in the 1600s and 1700s before becoming dominant in the twentieth century. The same Latin spatium also gives us spacious, and that shared root is a useful reminder that the word is built on a single c and a single e, with no hidden letters to trip over.

How the word is built

• space (from Latin spatium: extent, room, interval)