Tapered

How to spell tapered

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce tapered

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tapered mean?

1. adjectiveGradually becoming narrower toward one end.
2. verbBecame gradually narrower, or grew gradually smaller in amount or intensity.

Tapered in a sentence

• adjective

  The tailor recommended a slim, tapered leg for the new trousers.

• verb

  The road tapered into a single lane as it climbed the hill.

• adjective

  The lamp sat on a smooth, tapered wooden stand.

• verb

  Sales tapered off sharply after the holiday season ended.

Where does tapered come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past tense and adjectival form of the verb 'taper', which itself grew out of an Old English noun 'tapor' or 'tapur' meaning a candle or wax light. The most widely accepted account traces that noun back, by a curious switch of consonants, to the Latin 'papyrus', the reed whose pith was once used to make candle wicks; over time the 'p' at the front shifted to a 't' in English. Because a candle naturally narrows toward its tip, the noun gave rise to a verb meaning 'to grow gradually narrower', and from that verb came the form 'tapered'. By the 1600s the word was being used freely of anything that thins toward one end, from spires to table legs to trousers. The single 'p' and the plain '-ed' ending are the spelling points to watch, since the gentle middle vowel tempts some writers to double the 'p'.

How the word is built

• taper (to narrow gradually, from the shape of a candle)
• -ed (past tense / adjective suffix)