Systematic

How to spell systematic

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce systematic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does systematic mean?

1. adjectiveDone or arranged according to a fixed, methodical plan rather than at random.

Systematic in a sentence

• The auditor took a systematic approach to checking every invoice.

• A systematic review of the files uncovered the duplicate payments.

Where does systematic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek systema, meaning an organised whole or a set of things standing together, which was built from syn 'together' and histanai 'to set up or cause to stand'. Greek formed the adjective systematikos to describe something arranged according to a plan or method. Latin borrowed it as systematicus, and the term passed into English in the seventeenth century, first in scholarly and scientific writing where careful classification mattered. The sense shifted gently from 'belonging to a system' toward the everyday modern meaning of 'done in a thorough, orderly, step-by-step way'. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the unstressed vowels (sys-tem-AT-ic) make the second 'e' and the connecting vowels easy to mishear, and writers sometimes want to double the 't', though it stays single.

How the word is built

• system (from Greek systema: an organised whole)
• -atic (adjective suffix forming 'relating to')