Title

How to spell title

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce title

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does title mean?

1. nounThe name given to a book, film, song, or other work.
2. nounA word indicating a person's rank, office, or honour.
3. nounA legal right to ownership of property, or the document proving it.
4. verbTo give a name or heading to a work.

Title in a sentence

• noun

  The librarian could not recall the exact title of the novel.

• noun

  His new job came with an impressive title but little extra pay.

• noun

  The buyer received clear title to the house after settlement.

• verb

  The author chose to title her memoir after her childhood home.

• noun

  The film won an award despite its forgettable title.

• noun

  The knight was granted a hereditary title by the monarch.

Where does title come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin titulus, which meant an inscription, a label, or a notice placed on something, and by extension the heading of a written work or a mark of honour. Romans literally hung a titulus over goods for sale or wrote one on a tomb, so the idea of a name attached to something was there from the start. The word passed into Old English as titul and was reinforced by Old French title, before settling into its modern spelling. Over time the single core meaning branched out: the name of a book, a person's rank or honour, and a legal claim of ownership all grew from that same notion of a formal label. The double sense of 'name of a work' and 'legal right' explains why the same short word covers both a novel's cover and a property deed. The unstressed second syllable, spelled -le, is the only mild spelling snag, since the ear hears a vague schwa rather than a clear vowel.

How the word is built

• tit- (from Latin titulus: inscription, label)
• -le (English form of the Latin ending)