Valid

How to spell valid

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce valid

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does valid mean?

1. adjectiveLegally or officially acceptable, or logically sound and well founded.

Valid in a sentence

• Your passport must still be valid on the date of travel.

• The lawyer confirmed that the contract was legally valid.

Where does valid come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin validus, meaning 'strong, robust, or effective'. That adjective was built on the verb valere, which literally meant 'to be strong' or 'to be worth', the same idea that gives us the modern senses of being sound, holding up, and counting for something. English borrowed it in the late 1500s, partly through the French valide, first in the sense of legally binding and well grounded before broadening to arguments and reasoning that hold together. The valere root is surprisingly fertile, surfacing in everyday relatives such as 'value', 'valiant', 'prevail', and even the medical word 'convalesce', which is literally to grow strong again. Knowing the root keeps the spelling simple: there is just a single l and a plain -id ending, with no hidden doubling or silent letters to trip over.

How the word is built

• val- (from Latin valere: to be strong, to be worth)
• -id (adjective-forming suffix)