Laws have lots of power. So, what happens when those laws need to be changed? In comes an !
An amendment is a change or fix. The noun is used most often when talking about laws or documents. But this wasn’t always the case.
The word “amendment” has Latin roots. The Latin emendare meant “to correct.” Later, Old French speakers started to use the word amender. It meant “to make something right.” The Middle English word “amenden” popped up in the 1200s. It held the same meaning. People started using the word “amendment” around the same time. The meaning of “amendment” grew in the 1600s. It now included corrections to laws.
You may know about the amendments to the Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is the set of top laws in the country. Congress passed the 19th Amendment in 1919. It gave women the right to vote. Before this, only men were allowed to vote. Women worked for this change for almost 100 years. They performed many acts of protest.
The 19th Amendment improved the Constitution. This amendment said no U.S. citizen can be kept from voting because of their gender. In 1920, 8 million women voted for the first time.
The word “amendment” is often used to talk about laws. But there are other forms of the word too.
“Amend” is also its own word! To amend something means to change it in order to improve it. There’s also the phrase “to make amends.” Friends might “make amends.” That means that they fix their relationship.
The word “mend” can also be found in “amendment.” Mending is the act of fixing an object. This word is used especially in sewing.
Another place “mend” shows up is talking about healing. The phrase “on the mend” meant that a person was getting better from a sickness or .
What do you think about this amendment to your vocabulary?
Updated June 5, 2023, 5:01 P.M. (ET)
By Hannah Marcum
