Suspicion

How to spell suspicion

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce suspicion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does suspicion mean?

1. nounA feeling or belief that something is wrong, dishonest, or likely, often without firm proof.

Suspicion in a sentence

• The detective had a strong suspicion that the witness was lying.

• Her sudden wealth aroused suspicion among the neighbours.

Where does suspicion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb suspicere, which literally meant 'to look up at' or 'to look at from below', built from sub 'under' and specere 'to look'. From the idea of looking up at something, the verb also came to mean 'to mistrust' or 'to regard with doubt', because watching someone closely from below suggests wariness. The Latin noun suspicio carried this sense of mistrust, and it passed into Anglo-Norman and Old French as suspeccion before entering English in the 1300s. The same specere root for looking survives in a large family of English words including 'inspect', 'spectacle', and 'suspect'. The tricky spelling comes from that Latin -cio ending, which English renders as -cion rather than the more familiar -tion, so writers who expect 'suspition' are caught out.

How the word is built

• su- (variant of sub-: under)
• spic (from specere: to look)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)