celibate
/ˈselɪbət/SEH-lih-buht
/ˈsɛlɪbət/SEH-lih-buht
Meaningunmarried
Common meaning: abstaining from marriage and sex
- celibunmarriedLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 262 · scan
- ateverb or adjective ending: to make, having
Journey through time
- Latincaelebs, -ibis‘unmarried’
- Englishcelibate‘abstaining from marriage and sex’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin caelebs ‘unmarried’.
Roots
- caelebs, -ibis Latin “unmarried”
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