overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

matter.

Material; substance.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈmætə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmatə/British, Northern-England, Southern, Standard, Wales/ˈmatəɾ/Scotland/ˈmætɚ/General-American
  1. Material; substance. Anything with mass and volume.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Material; substance. Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Material; substance. A kind of substance.

    countable · uncountable
    vegetable matter
  4. Material; substance. Printed material, especially in books or magazines.

    countable · uncountable
    He always took some reading matter with him on the plane.
  5. Material; substance. Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.

    countable · uncountable
  6. An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic.

    countable · uncountable
    Something is the matter with him.
    The diplomats met to discuss state matters.
  7. An approximate amount or extent.

    countable · uncountable
    I stayed for a matter of months.
  8. Legal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue.

    countable
    Please find attached an invoice for three outstanding matters.
  9. Essence; pith; embodiment.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  10. (The) inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  11. Pus.

    countable · dated · uncountable
  12. Importance.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr Proto-Italic *mātēr Latin māter Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia ▲ Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē)sl. Latin māteriader. Anglo-Norman materebor. Middle English matere English matter From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin māteria (“wood”), from māter (“mother”), in which case cognate with Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar”) and մայրի (mayri, “forest”). Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and mother. Displaced Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”), from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).

verb/ˈmætə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmatə/British, Northern-England, Southern, Standard, Wales/ˈmatəɾ/Scotland/ˈmætɚ/General-American
  1. To be important.

    intransitive · stative
    The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich.
    Sorry for pouring ketchup on your clean white shirt! - Oh, don't worry, it does not matter.
  2. To care about, to mind; to find important.

    Caribbean · England · regional · transitive
  3. To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.

    archaic · intransitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr Proto-Italic *mātēr Latin māter Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia ▲ Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē)sl. Latin māteriader. Anglo-Norman materebor. Middle English matere English matter From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin māteria (“wood”), from māter (“mother”), in which case cognate with Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar”) and մայրի (mayri, “forest”). Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and mother. Displaced Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”), from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

matter has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

matter studiomatter workshello, matter

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.