# merit

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈmɛɹɪt/ · frequency rank #6,267

## Definitions
1. A claim to commendation or a reward.
2. A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.
3. Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
4. The sum of all the good deeds that a person does which determines the quality of the person's next state of existence and contributes to the person's growth towards enlightenment.
5. Usually in the plural form the merits: the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc., as opposed to technical matters such as the admissibility of evidence or points of legal procedure; (by extension) the overall good or bad quality, or rightness or wrongness, of some other thing.
6. The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.

## Etymology
From Middle English merit, merite (“quality of person’s character or conduct deserving of reward or punishment; such reward or punishment; excellence, worthiness; benefit; right to be rewarded for spiritual service; retribution at doomsday; virtue through which Jesus Christ brings about salvation; virtue possessed by a holy person; power of a pagan deity”), from Anglo-Norman merit, merite, Old French merite (“moral worth, reward; merit”) (modern French mérite), from Latin meritum (“that which one deserves, deserts; benefit, reward, merit; service; kindness; importance, value, worth; blame, demerit, fault; grounds, reason”), neuter of meritus (“deserved, earned, obtained; due, proper, right; deserving, meritorious”), perfect passive participle of mereō (“to deserve, earn, obtain, merit; to earn a living”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot, assign”). The English word is probably cognate with Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “component, part; portion, share; destiny, fate, lot”) and cognate with Old Occitan merit.

## Easily confused with
- **met** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-met)
- **mit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-mit)
- **MRI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-mri)
- **MRT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-mrt)
- **Mori** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-mori)
- **mort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-mort)
- **MERS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-mers)
- **MIRI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-miri)
- **Merv** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-merv)
- **merry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-merry)
- **Meryl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-meryl)
- **merle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-merle)
- **Murat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-murat)
- **Morin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-morin)
- **Moria** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-moria)
- **metric** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-metric)
- **merits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-merits)
- **merlin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-merlin)
- **Merlot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-merlot)
- **merited** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/merit-vs-merited)

## Common misspellings (7)
`emrit`, `meirt`, `meritt`, `merrit`, `merti`, `mmerit`, `mreit`

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