Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell countries

Countries is spelled C-O-U-N-T-R-I-E-S.

hear it/'kəntri/nounSounds

What it means: Territories occupied by nations.

In a sentence: There are many countries in the world to explore and learn about.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear, and the order of ie.

Same family: country, countryside, nation, national, international. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: The word "country" comes from Old French "contrée," meaning a region or land, which itself came from Latin "contra" meaning "opposite" or "facing" (as in the land you see in front of you). "Countries" is simply the plural form, used when talking about more than one nation or land.

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