Volatile

How to spell volatile

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce volatile

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does volatile mean?

1. adjectiveLiable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse.
2. adjectiveEvaporating readily at normal temperatures.

Volatile in a sentence

• The housing market turned volatile after the interest rate rise.

• The solvent is highly volatile, so the room must stay well ventilated.

• Negotiations grew tense and volatile as both sides lost patience.

• Petrol is a volatile liquid that releases fumes even when cold.

Where does volatile come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin volatilis, which literally meant 'flying' or 'winged' and, by extension, 'fleeting' or 'quick to vanish'. That adjective was built on the verb volare, meaning 'to fly', the same root that gives us 'volley' and the bird-related Latin volucris. When the word entered English in the early 1600s it first kept this airborne sense, often describing creatures that fly, but it quickly settled onto substances that 'fly off' as vapour, that is, those that evaporate readily. From there the meaning drifted into the figurative realm we use most today: anything liable to change suddenly and unpredictably, whether a stock price, a mood, or a tense situation. The spelling trap lives in the soft, unstressed ending, since the '-ile' is easy to muddle and the middle vowel collapses to a schwa in speech.

How the word is built

• volat- (from Latin volare, to fly)
• -ile (suffix: tending to, capable of)