Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell semester

Semester is spelled S-E-M-E-S-T-E-R.

hear itse·mes·ter/sɪ'mɛstər/nounSchwa and roots

What it means: One of the two terms in a school year.

In a sentence: In school, a semester is like half the year with fun lessons to learn.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: trimester, quarter, term, midterm, school-year. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: The word "semester" comes from Latin roots: "sex" meaning "six" and "mensis" meaning "month," so it literally referred to a period of six months—just like a half-year school term.

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