Word for Wednesday: Election

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The word election describes a formal vote that takes place in order to select someone for a political office or other position. From tomorrow until May 26th, all 28 Member States of the European Union will be holding elections to the European Parliament.  You can find the full Spellzone dictionary definition of election here. 

Election is one of many examples that demonstrates how connected English is to other languages from Europe and the rest of the world. It first appeared in English around 1300 from the Anglo-French ‘eleccioun’, which in turn came from the Old French ‘elecion’ meaning ‘choice’ or ‘selection’. ‘Elecion’ comes from the Latin ‘eligere’ meaning ‘pick out’ or ‘select’. 

Can you think of any other words that entered English via European languages? 
 


22 May 2019
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One of the students has put in a huge amount of effort in completing Spellzone at least 3 times a week since his arrival with us in January. Looking at his scores after the latest GL testing, his standardised score has risen from 99 to 131. This is a truly phenomenal result. I just wanted to share the best result I have ever seen.

Terrie Penrose-Toms, Casterton College

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