Surround

How to spell surround

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce surround

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does surround mean?

1. verbTo be all around something or someone, enclosing them on every side.
2. nounA border or framing edge fitted around something, such as a fireplace or window.

Surround in a sentence

• verb

  Tall hedges surround the entire back garden.

• noun

  They fitted a marble surround around the old fireplace.

• verb

  Police cars began to surround the building at dawn.

• noun

  The bath has a tiled surround that hides the pipework.

Where does surround come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the fifteenth century from the Old French souronder or suronder, which descended from the Late Latin superundare. That Latin verb literally meant 'to overflow' and was built from super, meaning 'over' or 'above', joined to undare, 'to flow or rise in waves', which itself comes from unda, the Latin word for 'a wave'. Its earliest English sense was therefore about flooding and water spreading over land, not about encircling. Over time the meaning drifted toward 'to enclose on all sides', a shift strongly helped by the everyday English word 'round', which writers heard inside it and which reshaped both the spelling and the idea. So although the ending looks like the familiar 'round', the true origin is watery rather than circular, and the single 'r' after 'su' is the spot people most often double by mistake.

How the word is built

• sur- (over, around)
• round (from Latin rotundus, circular)