Summit

How to spell summit

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce summit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does summit mean?

1. nounThe highest point of a mountain or hill.
2. nounA formal meeting between heads of government or senior leaders.

Summit in a sentence

• The climbers reached the summit just before dawn.

• The climate summit brought leaders from forty nations together.

• A thick layer of snow covered the summit all winter.

• Trade negotiations dominated the two-day summit in Geneva.

Where does summit come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin summus, meaning 'highest' or 'topmost', which itself is a superlative form related to super, 'above'. From this Latin root grew the Old French sommet, a little form of som meaning 'top', literally something like 'the little top'. English took the word in during the 1400s to describe the very highest point of a hill or mountain. From that physical peak the meaning stretched in the twentieth century to cover the highest level of contact between nations, giving us the modern 'summit meeting' of heads of state. The same summus root sits quietly inside 'sum' and 'summary', both of which gather things up to a total or a high point, and that family link explains the doubled m that catches some writers out.

How the word is built

• summ- (from Latin summus: highest)
• -it (from Old French diminutive ending sommette)