Summon

How to spell summon

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce summon

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does summon mean?

1. verbTo order or request someone to come or be present, often with authority.
2. verbTo gather or call up an inner quality such as courage, strength, or energy.

Summon in a sentence

• The manager will summon the whole team for an emergency meeting.

• She had to summon all her courage before the interview.

• The court can summon a witness to give evidence in person.

• He could barely summon the energy to finish the late shift.

Where does summon come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travels back to the Latin summonere, which literally meant 'to remind quietly' or 'to give a private hint', built from the prefix sub- (meaning 'under' or 'secretly') and the verb monere (meaning 'to warn or advise'). When sub- was placed before the m of monere, the b assimilated and doubled into mm, which is exactly why the modern spelling carries two m letters and only one n. English took the word through Old French sumundre during the 1200s, and the early sense was a formal 'warning' to appear or to act, which softened into the broader idea of calling someone to come. The same monere root still warns us inside relatives like 'monitor', 'admonish', and 'premonition'. Knowing that the double m comes from the buried sub- prefix is the surest way to remember not to drop one.

How the word is built

• sum- (assimilated form of sub-: secretly, under)
• mon (from Latin monere: to warn, advise)
• -on (verb ending)