Teach

How to spell teach

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce teach

What does teach mean?

1. verbTo give someone knowledge or skill by instruction or example.

Teach in a sentence

• She volunteered to teach basic accounting at the community centre.

• They hired a tutor to teach their daughter the piano.

Where does teach come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, descending directly from the Old English verb tǣcan, which meant 'to show, point out, or instruct'. That verb grew from the same ancient Germanic root that gave us 'token' and 'teach', a root carrying the idea of showing a sign or making something known. In its earliest use it was closely tied to physically pointing the way, before settling into the modern sense of imparting knowledge or skill. The past tense 'taught' preserves a much older spelling pattern with the 'gh' that once marked a guttural sound now lost from speech. Because the base form is short and entirely regular, the spelling trap lies mainly in remembering that the everyday irregular past is 'taught', not 'teached'.

How the word is built

• teach (whole root; Old English tǣcan, to show or instruct)