Supersede

How to spell supersede

9 letters · 3 syllables

38 of the 48 people asked to spell supersede in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.

The most common mistake is supercede. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.

supercede supersede

What people typed instead

• supercede31 people
• superseed4 people

How to pronounce supersede

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does supersede mean?

1. verbTo replace something, taking its place as the newer or more authoritative version.

Supersede in a sentence

• New rules supersede the old ones.

• Version 2 will supersede all previous editions.

• These instructions supersede the older guide.

Where does supersede come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin supersedere, which literally meant 'to sit above' or 'to sit on top of', combining super 'above, beyond' with sedere 'to sit'. In its original Latin sense it meant to refrain from something or to forbear, the idea being that you sit back from an action; this surviving in early English use as 'to desist'. By the 1600s the modern meaning had settled: to set aside something old by putting something newer in its place, as if the new thing takes the higher seat. The spelling trap is precisely here: because so many similar words end in -cede (precede, recede, concede) or -ceed (proceed, succeed), writers reach for a c, but supersede is the only common English word built on sedere 'to sit' rather than cedere 'to go', so it keeps the s. Remembering that the root is 'sit' (sedentary shares it) is the surest way to keep the second s.

How the word is built

• super- (above, beyond)
• sed/sede (from Latin sedere: to sit)

People who misspell supersede also struggle with

Of the Spelling Garden players who got supersede wrong the first time, this is how many also got each of these wrong.

• idiosyncrasy 85% of them got it wrong
• connoisseur 63% of them got it wrong
• gubernatorial 61% of them got it wrong
• manoeuvre 58% of them got it wrong
• reconnaissance 41% of them got it wrong