emancipate

Questions

How do you pronounce emancipate?

The recorded pronunciation is /əˈmæn(t)səˌpeɪt/.

What does emancipate mean?

To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate.

Where does emancipate come from?

Learned borrowing from Latin ēmancipātus (“liberated, emancipated”) + English -ate (suffix forming verbs, and adjectives with the sense ‘characterized by the specified thing’). Ēmancipātus is the perfect passive participle of ēmancipō (“to declare (someone) free and independent of another’s power, emancipate; to give (something) from one’s authority or power into that of another, to alienate, transfer; to cause (oneself or someone) to become another’s slave; to make (someone) subservient”), from ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + mancipō (“to sell; to transfer”) (from manceps (“owner, possessor; purchaser; etc.”) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs)). The verb emancipate has verb sense 1.1 (“to set free”) and verb sense 1.3 (“(obsolete) to place under one’s control”) which are contradictory. The Latin word ēmancipō had the same senses, and the Oxford English Dictionary notes that according to the Latin grammarian Paulus Festus (fl. 8th century) this is because both actions were effected by the legal process of mancipation.

How to pronounce emancipate

1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “emancipate”.
2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/əˈmæn(t)səˌpeɪt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “emancipate”.
4. Repeat and practice — Say “emancipate” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.