# emeritus

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ɪˈmɛɹɪtəs/ · frequency rank #20,912

## Definitions
1. Retired, but retaining an honorific version of a previous title.

## Etymology
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin ēmeritus (“(having been) earned, (having been) merited; (having been) served, having done one’s service”), the perfect passive participle of ēmereō (“to earn, merit; to gain by service; (military) to complete one’s obligation to serve, to serve out one’s time”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + mereō (“to deserve, merit; to acquire, earn, get, obtain; to render service to; to serve”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot; to assign”)).
The noun is derived from the adjective. The plural form emeriti is borrowed from Latin ēmeritī.

## Common misspellings (11)
`eemritus`, `emeirtus`, `emeritsu`, `emerittus`, `emerituss`, `emeriuts`, `emerritus`, `emertius`, `emmeritus`, `emreitus`, `meeritus`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/emeritus