Surrogate

How to spell surrogate

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce surrogate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does surrogate mean?

1. nounA person or thing that takes the place of, or stands in for, another.
2. adjectiveServing as a replacement for someone or something else.

Surrogate in a sentence

• noun

  The deputy acted as a surrogate for the chief executive during the merger talks.

• adjective

  The couple worked with a surrogate mother to carry their child.

• noun

  For many lonely commuters, the radio host became a daily surrogate for company.

• adjective

  A surrogate key measure was used because the original data was unavailable.

Where does surrogate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb surrogare, a variant of subrogare, which meant to put one person or thing in the place of another, often in the sense of electing a substitute official. It was built from sub-, here carrying the idea of 'in place of', and rogare, meaning 'to ask' or 'to propose for election', the same root that gives us 'interrogate' and 'prerogative'. The past participle surrogatus produced the English form, which arrived in the fifteenth century to describe a deputy or substitute, particularly a person appointed to act for another. Over time it spread into religion, law, and eventually family life, as in a 'surrogate mother' who carries a child for someone else. The spelling trap lives in the doubled r and the unstressed final syllable that sounds like a weak '-git', so it helps to remember the rog of rogare sitting in the middle.

How the word is built

• sur- (from sub-: in place of)
• rog (from rogare: to ask, propose)
• -ate (forming a noun/adjective)