Supply

How to spell supply

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce supply

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does supply mean?

1. verbTo provide or make something available, especially to meet a need.
2. nounA stock or amount of something available for use, or the act of providing it.

Supply in a sentence

• verb

  The wholesaler agreed to supply the cafe with fresh beans each week.

• noun

  The town kept a large supply of bottled water for emergencies.

• verb

  Local farms supply most of the produce sold at the market.

• noun

  A shortage in the supply of timber pushed building costs higher.

Where does supply come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Supply traces back to the Latin verb supplere, which literally meant 'to fill up' or 'to complete', formed from sub- (here meaning 'up from below' or 'in place of') and plere (to fill). English took it through Old French soupplier in the 1300s, when it first carried the sense of making up a shortfall or filling a need. Over time the idea of 'filling up what is lacking' broadened into the modern senses of providing goods and of the stock of goods itself. The same Latin plere 'to fill' also gives us 'complete', 'replete', and 'plenty', so the family is all about fullness. The single p and the silent stretch of the spelling catch some writers, who reach for a doubled p by analogy with 'supplier' and 'support'.

How the word is built

• sup- (variant of sub-: up from below, in place of)
• ply (from Latin plere: to fill)