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The manu in manufacture comes from a Latin word for what?

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manufacture

American  

[man-yuh-fak-cher, man-uh-] / ˌmæn jəˈfæk tʃər, ˌmæn ə- /

noun

• manufactures
  plural

1. 

   the making of goods or wares by manual labor or by machinery, especially on a large scale.

   the manufacture of television sets.

2. the making or producing of anything; generation.

   the manufacture of body cells.

3. the thing or material manufactured; product.

   Plastic is an important manufacture.

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verb (used with object)

• manufactures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• manufactured,
  past participle,  past
• manufacturing
  present participle

1. to make or produce by hand or machinery, especially on a large scale.

   Synonyms:

   build

2. to work up (material) into form for use.

   to manufacture cotton.

3. to invent fictitiously; fabricate; concoct.

   to manufacture an account of the incident.

4. to produce in a mechanical way without inspiration or originality.

   to manufacture a daily quota of poetry.

manufacture British  

/ ˌmænjʊˈfæktʃə /

verb

1. to process or make (a product) from a raw material, esp as a large-scale operation using machinery

2. (tr) to invent or concoct

   to manufacture an excuse

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noun

1. the production of goods, esp by industrial processes

2. a manufactured product

3. the creation or production of anything

Synonym Usage

Manufacture, assemble, fabricate apply to processes in industry. Manufacture, originally to make by hand, now means to make by machine or by industrial process: to manufacture rubber tires. To assemble is to fit together the manufactured parts of something mechanical: to assemble an automobile. To fabricate is to construct or build by fitting standardized parts together: to fabricate houses. See also make ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• manufacturing
  noun
• nonmanufacture
  noun
• nonmanufacturing
  noun
• semimanufacturing
  noun
• premanufacture
  verb (used with object)
• manufacturable
  adjective
• manufactural
  adjective
• nonmanufactured
  adjective
• semimanufactured
  adjective
• unmanufacturable
  adjective
• unmanufactured
  adjective
• well-manufactured
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• manufactures
  plural

Participles

• manufacturing
  present
• manufactured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• manufacture
  simple
• manufactures
  simple
• have manufactured
  perfect
• has manufactured
  perfect
• am manufacturing
  progressive
• are manufacturing
  progressive
• is manufacturing
  progressive
• have been manufacturing
  perfect progressive
• has been manufacturing
  perfect progressive

Past

• manufactured
  simple
• had manufactured
  perfect
• was manufacturing
  progressive
• were manufacturing
  progressive
• had been manufacturing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will manufacture
  simple
• will have manufactured
  perfect
• will be manufacturing
  progressive
• will have been manufacturing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of manufacture

First recorded in 1560–70; from Middle French manufacture “the action or process of making; a factory,” equivalent to Latin manū “by hand”, ablative singular of manus “hand” + Middle French facture “making, construction” (from Late Latin factūra “action of creating, a creation, piece of handiwork,” from Latin factūra “act of fashioning; metal working,” a derivative of facere “to make, do”); the verb is derivative of the noun

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Explanation

To manufacture something, is to make or construct it, usually for industry and sale. Unless you make all your own clothes, a company probably had to manufacture them. Manufacture is generally associated with industry and factories. Henry Ford, for instance, revolutionized industry by using assembly lines to manufacture Model Ts. But manufacture can also be used for the natural word, like bees that manufacture honey. Occasionally it use used more generally to mean to construct by putting parts together. And in a pinch, you can manufacture — or make — the truth, which is a creative way to say “lie.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

manufacture manufactures manufactured manufacturing

Geese were always an odd band to pin to anxieties about fabricated culture — if a label had resources and abilities to manufacture stars, why not do it for a 100x-hyperscaling pop act instead?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

“When China figures out how to manufacture a product, their ability to scale is often greater than the rest of the world combined,” Musk wrote in a post on X on Monday.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

These treatments use short, specially designed pieces of genetic material to interfere with instructions that cells use to manufacture particular proteins.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

But performance has, and its market-leading chips wouldn’t have been possible to manufacture without advanced packaging.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Ever since chemists began to manufacture substances that nature never invented, the problems of water purification have become complex and the danger to users of water has increased.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Airbus designs and manufactures wings for all its commercial aircraft at its Broughton site in North Wales.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

Martin Blunt, a small company that manufactures strings for muscial instruments in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires, has had to shift to a four-day week in the face of falling demand.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

What got far less attention was the story about the owner of an Ohio factory that manufactures parts for cars and trucks, who told the New York Times about his Haitian workers.

From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2026

What differentiates Coherent, which manufactures lasers and transceivers, is that the company is vertically integrated, from the raw-materials layer to lasers and the modules that house them.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

“Outside peoples already concede our material greatness and that we are well nigh supreme in manufactures and commerce,” he wrote.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

The Bluebottle drone, manufactured in Sydney, is named after a small jellyfish with a painful sting that washes ashore on Australian beaches.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Over 70% of all steel manufactured in the U.S. is produced from recycled materials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

It can also be manufactured synthetically using materials derived from sources such as clove oil or rice.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

Fans have been warned against buying fakes, with police saying, external they can be "manufactured without regard for safety standards or workers' rights" and Trading Standards warning that "counterfeiters have no morals and no standards".

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

“The Stormbreaker is being manufactured by Sayle Enterprises,” Mrs. Jones said.

From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz

The sheer speed of China's dominance in advanced manufacturing.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

The first China shock came in the 2000s in basic manufacturing.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

As Michael and Olivia investigate, they learn that Moondancer was quietly transitioning from public entertainment events to manufacturing AI-driven military/kamikaze drones.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

The breakthrough, described in a study published in Cell, could help overcome some of the biggest obstacles facing cancer immunotherapy, including the difficulty of manufacturing enough immune cells and keeping them active in the body.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

His father, who has a decent manufacturing job, often takes the boy on nature hikes.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

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Related Words

• assemble
• complete
• construct
• create
• fabricate
• mass-produce
• synthesize

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