Volume

How to spell volume

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce volume

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does volume mean?

1. nounThe amount of space that something occupies, or a large quantity of something.
2. nounA single book, especially one in a larger set or series.
3. nounThe level of loudness of a sound.

Volume in a sentence

• The warehouse handles a huge volume of parcels every week.

• The third volume of the encyclopedia covers entries beginning with C.

• He turned the volume down so the baby could sleep.

• The tank holds a fixed volume of water.

• She shelved the leather-bound volume beside its matching set.

• The speakers distort when the volume is too high.

Where does volume come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Volume traces back to the Latin volumen, which literally meant 'a roll' or 'a coil', and named the rolled-up sheet of papyrus that served as a book in the ancient world. That noun grew out of the verb volvere, meaning 'to roll' or 'to turn', the same root that gives us 'revolve' and 'evolve'. English took the word in through Old French in the 1300s, at first only for a single bound book, since a long work was once divided across several physical rolls. From the idea of the bulk of a book came the broader sense of the amount of space something fills, and from there the everyday measure of quantity. The familiar use for loudness is more recent, treating sound as something that can be 'larger' or 'smaller' in amount.

How the word is built

• volu- (from Latin volvere: to roll)
• -men (noun suffix giving 'a thing rolled')