How to spell specific

hear itspe·cif·ic/spɪ'sɪfɪk/adjectiveSounds

What it means: Distinct or particular in nature.

In a sentence: She had a specific toy she loved to play with every day.

The part people get wrong

Often misspelled as speciffic or specifc.

Same family: specifically, specificity, non-specific, specify, specification. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Specific comes from Latin 'specificus', meaning ‘of a particular kind or sort,’ formed from 'species' (kind, sort) and the ending '-ficus' (making or doing). It’s related to words like 'species' and 'specify', all connected to the idea of picking out one exact thing.

Try spelling it

You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

Spelling.School is a spaced-repetition spelling practice: ten minutes a day, every word spoken aloud, every miss explained, and every word coming back just before you would forget it. Try five words without signing up.