benevolent
Meaningwishing well
Common meaning: kind and wishing well
- benewellLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 229 · scan
- volto wish, be willingLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 2011 · scan
- entadjective ending: being or doing
‘well’ + ‘to wish, be willing’ → benevolent
Journey through time
Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.
- bene — Latin bene “well” (dictionary form; path not traced)
- vol — Latin volō, velle “to wish, be willing” (dictionary form; path not traced)
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin bene ‘well’ + Latin volō ‘to wish, be willing’.
Did you know (Latin velle, volo,…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry volō, p. 2011 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Latin bene, well,…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry bene, p. 229 · dictionary scan
Roots
- bene Latin “well”
- volō, velle Latin “to wish, be willing”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app