Spontaneous

How to spell spontaneous

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce spontaneous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does spontaneous mean?

1. adjectiveHappening or done in an unplanned way, as a result of a sudden impulse rather than careful arrangement.

Spontaneous in a sentence

• The team decided on a spontaneous trip to the coast that weekend.

• Her spontaneous laughter made the whole meeting feel relaxed.

Where does spontaneous come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Late Latin spontaneus, meaning 'willing' or 'of one's own accord', which was built on the Latin noun sponte, an old form meaning 'of one's own free will' or 'voluntarily'. The underlying idea was that an action arose from an inner impulse rather than from any outside pressure, and that sense of self-prompted, unforced behaviour carried straight through into English. The word entered English in the early 1600s, at first in formal and scientific writing about events that happen without an external cause, such as the now-discredited notion of 'spontaneous generation' of life from non-living matter. Over time it broadened into the everyday meaning of acting impulsively or naturally, on the spur of the moment. The chief spelling trap is the unstressed middle: the stress lands firmly on 'TAY', leaving 'spon' and the final '-eous' as faint syllables, which is why writers can mishandle the 'e' that sits quietly before the '-ous' ending.

How the word is built

• spont- (from Latin sponte: of one's own free will)
• -aneous (adjective ending)
• -ous (full of)