Surrounds

How to spell surrounds

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce surrounds

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does surrounds mean?

1. verbExtends all around something so as to enclose or encircle it.
2. nounDecorative borders or frames fitted around fixtures such as fireplaces or baths.

Surrounds in a sentence

• verb

  A tall hedge surrounds the entire back garden.

• noun

  The plumber replaced the tiled bath surrounds during the renovation.

• verb

  A moat surrounds the old stone castle.

• noun

  New marble fireplace surrounds added value to the listed house.

Where does surrounds come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word reaches modern English through Old French suronder, which came from the Late Latin superundare meaning 'to overflow'. That Latin verb was built from super, meaning 'over' or 'above', and undare, meaning 'to flow or rise in waves', which itself comes from unda, the Latin word for 'wave' (the same root that gives us 'undulate' and 'abundant'). When the word entered English in the 1400s it still carried the sense of flooding or overflowing, and only later did its meaning shift to 'encircle' or 'extend all around', a change strongly encouraged by the familiar English word 'round'. That folk reshaping toward 'round' is exactly why the spelling now ends in -ound rather than something closer to its true Latin parent, and it is the reason writers must remember the double r in sur- that the 'over' prefix supplies.

How the word is built

• sur- (over, from Latin super)
• round (encircle)
• -s (third-person singular / plural)