Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell material

Material is spelled M-A-T-E-R-I-A-L. It ends -RIAL, just like serial and aerial: ma-te-ri-al.

hear itma·te·ri·al/mə'tiriəl/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: Substance used to make clothing or objects.

In a sentence: The shirt is made of soft material.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: materials, materially, materialism, materialistic. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Material comes from the Latin word 'materialis', related to 'materia' meaning 'substance' or 'stuff' and ultimately from 'mater' meaning 'mother'. It originally referred to the physical 'stuff' things are made of before gaining more abstract uses like 'study material' or 'evidence'.

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