Such

How to spell such

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce such

What does such mean?

1. determinerOf the kind or degree already mentioned or implied; so great or extreme.

Such in a sentence

• The meeting ran late and we never expected such a delay.

• Such behaviour will not be tolerated in the office.

Where does such come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Such comes straight from Old English swilc or swylc, a compound built from swa, meaning 'so', and lic, meaning 'like' or 'having the form of', the same lic that survives at the end of words like 'each' and in the modern suffix -ly. Literally, then, the ancestor meant something close to 'so-like' or 'of that form'. Over the centuries the two parts collapsed together and the spelling smoothed down, dropping the inner consonants until it became the short, blunt 'such' we use today. It has close cousins across the Germanic languages, including German 'solch' and Dutch 'zulk', which preserve more of the original shape. Because the word is so old, common, and short, its modern spelling is now thoroughly regular and gives writers little trouble.

How the word is built

• swa (so)
• lic (like/body, form) fused into Old English swilc, swylc 'so like'