Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell council

Council is spelled C-O-U-N-C-I-L. It ends -CIL, the same as pencil: coun-cil, with a C before the I.

hear itcoun·cil/'kaʊnsəl/nounHidden vowels

What it means: a body serving in an administrative capacity

In a sentence: The council met to plan a fun park cleanup event.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Not to be confused with: counsel, a different word.

Same family: councillor, councilor, councilman, councilwoman, council meeting. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: The word “council” comes from Old French “conseil,” meaning ‘assembly’ or ‘advice,’ and from Latin “concilium,” meaning ‘meeting’ or ‘gathering.’ It is closely related in origin to “counsel,” which explains why many people confuse the spellings of these two words.

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