How to spell beneficiary

hear itben·e·fi·ci·ar·y/,bɛnə'fɪʃi,ɛri/nounSchwa and roots

What it means: A person or animal that receives help or an advantage.

In a sentence: The puppy was a beneficiary of all the love and treats from the family.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as beneficary or benificiary.

Same family: benefit, beneficial, benefactor, beneficiaries, beneficiary-designation. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Beneficiary” comes from Latin roots bene, meaning “well” or “good,” and facere, meaning “to do or make.” It literally refers to someone for whom something ‘good is done,’ which fits its modern use in law, insurance, and finance.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

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