Subject

How to spell subject

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce subject

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does subject mean?

1. nounA topic being discussed or studied, or a person or thing being considered or under a ruler's authority.
2. verbTo cause someone or something to undergo or experience a particular treatment or force.
3. adjectiveLikely or liable to be affected by something, or under the authority of another.

Subject in a sentence

• noun

  The meeting moved on to the difficult subject of redundancies.

• verb

  The factory will subject each part to a rigorous stress test.

• adjective

  The price is subject to change without notice.

• noun

  History was her favourite subject at school.

• verb

  The regime tried to subject the region to its control.

• adjective

  The offer remains subject to final approval from the board.

Where does subject come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb subicere, meaning 'to place under' or 'to throw beneath', which was built from sub- meaning 'under' and jacere meaning 'to throw' or 'to cast'. Its past participle subiectus produced the noun and adjective sense of something or someone 'placed under' authority, and English took it in through Old French as suget or subget during the 1300s. The spelling was later reshaped to restore the visible Latin 'b' and 'j', which is why we write subject rather than the older suget. The same jacere root throws its way into a whole family of English words, including 'eject', 'inject', 'project' and 'reject', all involving something being cast in some direction. The shift in stress between the noun (SUB-ject) and the verb (sub-JECT) is a tidy reminder that the two share one origin: a person or thing brought under power, and the act of bringing under power.

How the word is built

• sub- (under)
• ject (from Latin jacere: to throw, cast)