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How to spell hindrance

hear ithin·drance/'hɪndrəns/nounAcademic

What it means: Something that obstructs or delays progress.

In a sentence: The big stone in the path was a hindrance to the hikers.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as hindrence or hindarance.

Same family: hinder, hindering, obstacle, impediment. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Hindrance comes from the verb 'hinder,' which dates back to Old English and originally meant 'to hold back' or 'to check.' The suffix '-ance' turns the action of hindering into a noun, much like in 'importance' or 'distance.'

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

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