Unite

How to spell unite

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce unite

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unite mean?

1. verbTo come together, or to bring people or things together, into a single body or purpose.

Unite in a sentence

• The strike threatened to unite workers from every department.

• The two small firms agreed to unite under a single brand.

Where does unite come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb unire, meaning 'to join together into one' or 'to make a single thing', which was built directly on unus, the Latin word for 'one'. English took it in during the early 1400s, partly through Old French and partly straight from Latin, originally in the sense of bringing separate parts or people together into a single whole. The same unus root sits inside a large family of familiar words, including 'union', 'unity', 'universe', and even 'onion', which the Romans named for its single layered bulb. Because the heart of the word is simply 'one', the spelling stays regular: uni- followed by -te, with no doubled letters or silent traps. The opening sound, 'yoo', is why it takes 'a unite' rather than 'an unite' in careful writing.

How the word is built

• uni- (from unus: one)
• -ite (verb suffix, via Latin -ire)