Superstar

How to spell superstar

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce superstar

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does superstar mean?

1. nounAn extremely famous and successful performer, athlete, or other public figure.

Superstar in a sentence

• The young striker became a national superstar after the cup final.

• The festival headliner is a genuine pop superstar with millions of fans.

Where does superstar come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word joins the Latin prefix super-, meaning 'above' or 'beyond', to the much older English word 'star', which traces back to the Old English steorra for the bright bodies in the night sky. By the nineteenth century 'star' had taken on a figurative sense for a leading performer who shines above the rest of a cast, especially in theatre. American show business and journalism then stacked the intensifier 'super' on top during the twentieth century to mark someone who outshines even the ordinary stars, with the form becoming common in the 1920s and surging with film, music, and sport coverage. The same super- prefix sits inside familiar words like superman and superhuman, all conveying the idea of rising above the usual level. Because the word is simply 'super' plus 'star' with no joining letter, its spelling holds few traps for a fluent adult.

How the word is built

• super- (above, beyond)
• star (celebrated performer, from the celestial sense)