Transition

How to spell transition

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce transition

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does transition mean?

1. nounThe process or period of changing from one state, condition, or stage to another.
2. verbTo change or pass from one state, condition, or activity to another.

Transition in a sentence

• noun

  The company managed the transition to remote work smoothly.

• verb

  The team will transition to the new software over the next month.

• noun

  The transition from school to full-time employment can feel abrupt.

• verb

  Older staff need support as they transition into retirement.

Where does transition come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin transitio, meaning 'a going across' or 'a passage', which was built from the verb transire, 'to go over' or 'to pass through'. That verb itself joined the prefix trans, meaning 'across', to the very common verb ire, meaning 'to go', so the literal sense is simply the act of moving from one place or state to another. English borrowed it in the 1500s, at first for changes in music and grammar before it broadened to any shift from one condition to the next. The same ire root for going turns up in a whole family of relatives such as 'transit', 'exit', 'ambition' and 'initial'. A useful spelling cue is that the silent path of trans plus it explains the single t in the middle and the -sition ending, even though the ear hears a 'zish' or 'sish' sound.

How the word is built

• trans- (across)
• it (from Latin ire, to go)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)