Unification

How to spell unification

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce unification

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unification mean?

1. nounThe process of bringing separate parts, groups, or territories together into a single whole.

Unification in a sentence

• The unification of the two companies created the largest firm in the sector.

• Historians often study the unification of Germany in the nineteenth century.

Where does unification come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin unus, meaning 'one', combined with facere, 'to make', so at heart it describes the act of making things one. Medieval Latin formed unificare, 'to unite into a single whole', from which the verb 'unify' entered English. The noun 'unification' was built on that verb with the Latin-derived suffix -ation, which turns an action into a thing, and it came into English use around the early 1600s. The same unus root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'unit', 'union', and 'universe', all of which carry the idea of oneness. Knowing that the middle of the word is really uni- plus -fic- (the 'make' piece) helps explain the unstressed 'i' that writers sometimes drop, since it belongs to the 'fic' element rather than being a random vowel.

How the word is built

• uni- (one, from Latin unus)
• -fic- (from facere, to make)
• -ation (noun of action)