suspect
/səsˈpekt/suh-SPEKT
/səsˈpɛkt/suh-SPEKT
Meaninglooked up at
Common meaning: to think guilty
- susunder, up from belowSkeat, Concise Etymological Dictionary (1911), p. 533 · scan
- pectto look at, watchLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1737 · scan
‘under, up from below’ + ‘to look at, watch’ → suspect
Journey through time
- sus — Latin sub- “under, up from below” (path traced)
- pect — Latin speciō (spiciō), spexī, spectum “to look at, watch” (path traced)
Parts join in Latin as suspectus.
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 suspectus, which Skeat (Concise Dictionary, 1911) analyses as sub- ‘under, up from below’ + spccere ‘to look at, watch’.
Roots
- speciō (spiciō), spexī, spectum Latin “to look at, watch”
- suspectus Latin “looked up at”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app