Treat

How to spell treat

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce treat

What does treat mean?

1. verbTo behave toward someone or something in a particular way, to deal with a problem, or to apply medical or chemical processing.
2. nounSomething special that gives pleasure, often paid for by someone else.

Treat in a sentence

• verb

  The nurse will treat the wound before you leave.

• noun

  Lunch is my treat, so put your wallet away.

• verb

  Please treat the new staff with respect.

• noun

  A quiet weekend away felt like a real treat.

Where does treat come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word arrived in English in the 1200s from the Old French traitier, which meant 'to deal with', 'to handle', or 'to negotiate'. That French verb came directly from the Latin tractare, meaning 'to drag about', 'to handle', or 'to manage', which was itself a frequentative form of trahere, 'to pull or draw'. The earliest English senses leaned on the negotiation meaning, so 'to treat' once meant to discuss terms, a sense still visible in the word 'treaty'. Over time the meaning broadened to cover how you behave toward a person or thing, then how you process a substance, and how doctors care for the sick. The cheerful noun sense, a special pleasure given to someone, grew later from the idea of dealing generously with a person, and the same trahere root quietly survives in relatives such as 'tractor', 'extract', and 'attract'.

How the word is built

• treat (from Old French traitier: to deal with, handle), no affixes