Writing for Business - A Whatis.com Blog

Apr 30 2010   12:45PM GMT

Supersede or supercede?



Posted by: Ivy Wigmore
Business writing, CIO, commonly misspelled words, grammar, Quiz

Which is correct?
Many experts predict that cloud computing will completely _______ desktop computing within the not-too-distant future.
a. supersede
b. supercede
c. superseed


Answer: a.

Explanation:
Supersede is the correct spelling. The word means to supplant or take the place of. Supercede is not a word, although you’d think it might be related to intercede and precede. Superseed would be like the ones that grew Jack’s bean stalk.

Like the question in yesterday’s post about augur vs. auger, the idea for this one came from @EditorMark’s Twitter Archive:

For nonseed words ending with a seed sound, “supersede” is unique. Three end in “ceed” and start “ex,” “pro,” and “suc.” Otherwise, “-cede.”

“Cede” words start ac-, con-, inter-, pre-, re-, and se-. And then there is “seed.” Some “seed” words: ani-, lin-, poppy-, rape-, and bird-.

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MTidmarsh  |   Sep 17, 2012  6:15 PM (GMT)

Learn more about other grammar questions including the difference between ‘do respect’ vs. ‘due respect’.