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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

“We have now set up a supply chain that can manufacture thousands a week of these systems.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Much of the turmoil is due to an industry-wide struggle to manufacture and monetize heavier electric vehicles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

By engineering cells before they fully mature, scientists may be able to create therapies that are easier to manufacture, more adaptable, and capable of maintaining a continuing supply of specialized immune defenders.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Rather than trying to manufacture large numbers of mature macrophages, first author Shi Yue, MD, of Ying's laboratory and his colleagues concentrated on GMPs, the progenitor cells that can produce macrophages.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Gravity hinders the manufacture of some items, like crystals used in electronics, and much bigger and better crystals can be formed in weightlessness.

From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins

The company manufactures semiconductors for external customers and its new processing node has been a big success.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026

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

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

BRP manufactures Can-Am ATVs and its popular personal watercraft Sea-Doo, which includes the Sea-Doo Switch pontoon boat lineup.

From The Wall Street Journal ● 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

“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

Nowadays, the paper too is manufactured in Huixcolotla, which prides itself on controlling the entire process.

From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026

Pharmacies received the green light to create the compounded drug when a GLP-1 shortage began in 2022 — with the stipulation that the drugs could be manufactured only during a shortage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

That finding raises the possibility of developing off-the-shelf treatments using cells manufactured in advance from donors.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 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

In industrial settings, inexpensive spectrometers could be installed throughout manufacturing facilities to continuously check material composition and product quality.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026

They are essential tools in medicine, manufacturing, chemical testing, and environmental research.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026

Data from the Leading Economic Index showed gains in manufacturing hours and other growth indicators offset waning consumer sentiment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

Tesla also started using a manufacturing plant in California to produce humanoid robots, known as Optimus.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

There is another reason why manufacturing jobs have declined, one that has to do with the nature of the US economy itself.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

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Related Words

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

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