Supermodel

How to spell supermodel

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce supermodel

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does supermodel mean?

1. nounA highly successful and internationally famous fashion model.

Supermodel in a sentence

• The agency signed a teenager who later became a world-famous supermodel.

• Every supermodel on the runway wore the new spring collection.

Where does supermodel come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word joins the Latin prefix super-, meaning 'above' or 'beyond', to 'model', which traces back through French modelle to the Italian modello, a diminutive of the Latin modus, meaning 'measure' or 'standard'. A model originally meant a small-scale measure or pattern, and from there it came to mean a person who poses to display clothing or to be drawn. The 'super-' was bolted on during the twentieth century to mark someone elevated far above the ordinary, the same boosting prefix found in 'superstar' and 'superhuman'. As a fashion term, 'supermodel' became widely used in the 1980s and early 1990s, describing the handful of highly paid, internationally famous models of that era. The spelling is reassuringly straightforward: it is simply 'super' plus 'model' run together, with no hidden silent letters or doubled consonants to trip the writer.

How the word is built

• super- (above, beyond)
• model (one who poses for designers or artists)