Superficial

How to spell superficial

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce superficial

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does superficial mean?

1. adjectiveExisting on or affecting only the surface, or lacking depth and thoroughness.

Superficial in a sentence

• The nurse cleaned the superficial scratch and applied a small dressing.

• His report gave only a superficial summary of the budget problems.

Where does superficial come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin superficialis, meaning 'of or relating to the surface', which was built on superficies, the Latin word for a surface or outer face. That noun joined super, meaning 'above' or 'over', with facies, meaning 'face' or 'form', so the literal idea was the face that sits on top of something. English took the word in during the late 1300s, at first in a plain physical sense for things found on the surface, as in a superficial wound. From there the meaning broadened into the familiar figurative sense of being shallow or lacking depth, as in a superficial understanding. The tricky part of the spelling is hidden in that facies root: the 'sh' sound is written as 'ci', and the unstressed middle vowels invite errors, which is why writers reach for the more phonetic but wrong forms.

How the word is built

• super- (above, on top)
• fici- (from Latin facies: face, surface)
• -al (adjective suffix)