Theories

How to spell theories

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce theories

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does theories mean?

1. nounMore than one theory: sets of ideas intended to explain how or why something happens.

Theories in a sentence

• The lecturer compared several competing theories about the origin of language.

• Detectives explored two theories before settling on a single account of the robbery.

Where does theories come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word descends from the Greek theoria, which meant 'contemplation', 'speculation', or 'a looking at', and even 'a viewing' as in attending a spectacle. That noun grew from theorein, 'to look at or observe closely', which itself relates to theoros, 'a spectator', someone sent to watch the games or consult an oracle. Latin borrowed the idea as theoria, and English took 'theory' in the late 1500s, at first meaning a mental scheme or contemplative understanding rather than the systematic explanation we mean today. The plural 'theories' simply follows the regular English rule that turns a final consonant-plus-y into -ies, which is exactly the spelling step writers must remember, since 'theorys' is wrong. A useful memory hook is that its distant relative 'theatre' shares the same root sense of viewing and watching.

How the word is built

• theor- (from Greek theoria: contemplation, speculation)
• -y (noun suffix)
• -es (plural, with y changing to i)