Surveillance

How to spell surveillance

12 letters · 3 syllables

1 of the 29 people asked to spell surveillance in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.

How to pronounce surveillance

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does surveillance mean?

1. nounClose and continuous observation of a person, place, or activity, often to gather information or prevent crime.

Surveillance in a sentence

• The bank installed new surveillance cameras above every counter.

• Detectives kept the warehouse under round-the-clock surveillance.

Where does surveillance come from?

Language of origin: French

Surveillance came into English directly from French, where it means 'a watching over', built from the verb surveiller, 'to watch over' or 'to oversee'. That verb joins sur-, meaning 'over' or 'from above', to veiller, 'to watch' or 'to stay awake', which traces back to the Latin vigilare, 'to keep watch', and ultimately to vigil, 'watchful' or 'awake'. The word carried a chilling tone from the start: it spread in English around the time of the French Revolution, when the comites de surveillance were committees set up to keep watch on suspected enemies of the state. The same Latin vigil root sits inside the familiar English words 'vigil', 'vigilant', and 'vigilante', all about staying alert and watching. The spelling trap lives in that French middle: the silent stretch '-eill-' with its doubled letters, plus the single 'l' before '-ance', which writers often double by mistake.

How the word is built

• sur- (over)
• veill (from French veiller 'to watch', from Latin vigilare 'to keep watch')
• -ance (noun suffix)