Everyone can miss a spelling mistake. But for example, in a piece of writing, be it an email, a paper, or a book, if we get several or many, we will certainly not enjoy reading it. Spelling and grammar exist to make written language understandable. The purpose of spelling is not to create confusion among people. Today we will review the case of two words that can easily confuse us: “excell” and “excel;” which of the two is the correct one?
The word “excel” is the ability of a person to overcome extraordinarily a challenging situation; it is to succeed above other people. The word “excell” is simply a misspelling. It is very easy to make this type of mistake since people pronounce both words the same.
Regardless of each person’s profession, the important thing is to be able to express ourselves better every day, both orally and in writing. There are confusions in the written part due to the complexity of language rules. Our goal with this article is to make a small contribution to the knowledge of our language. With this purpose in mind, we will start a tour of knowledge to understand the uses of “excel” and “excell.”
What Is The Definition Of The Word “Excel”?
The word “excel” is a term that means success or the achievement of something in particular. It is a way of saying that someone managed to excel above everything and everyone else. Now we are going to review some of the formal definitions of the word “excel.”
Excel As A Verb
- To be extremely good at something.
- To do something better than people are used to doing it.
- To be better or greater than something.
- To do or be better than someone. It is the action of surpassing something.
- To show superiority. It is the action of surpassing other people.
- To overcome barriers, to go beyond.
Excel As A Noun
- Software composed of spreadsheets to perform numerical operations. This application is developed and distributed by Microsoft.
What Is The Origin Of The Word “Excel”?
It is time to review some historical data related to the origins of the word “excel.”
- At the beginning of the 15th century, “excel” appeared as a transitive verb. The initial meaning was “to surpass, to be superior to.”
- Also, in the 15th century, “excel” meant “to be remarkable due to superiority, to surpass others.”
- From the Latin “excellere,” people took the meaning “to rise, surpass, be superior, and be eminent.”
What Is The Definition Of The Word “Excell”?
At the beginning of this article, we explained the definition of “excell.” However, we will now go a little deeper into this topic.
- “Excell” is a misspelling of the spelling of the word excel.
- A surname.
- A misspelling of the spelling of other words such as exceed or excess.
- Sometimes people use “excell” as an abbreviation for excellent. This abbreviation is not orthographically correct.
Why Is It So Easy To Get Confused With The Words “Excel” And “Excel”?
Many of the words we use in our lives we pronounce the same or similar to others. Not to mention when writing them, it is at this point where the confusion is more significant. This description is the case of the words “excel” and “excell.” The main reasons that influence possible confusions with these terms are:
- Both words are pronounced the same way.
- The past tense of “excel” is spelled with two “l’s” (excelled), as is the gerund (excelling). These grammatical tenses are correct when spelled this way, but “excell” is not.
How Do People Use The Word “Excel”?
The word “excel” has meanings that are pretty familiar to most people. However, the use of many words, including “excel,” manages to evolve to bring new meanings and intentions to the messages we give and receive. Below we will review some of the most common uses that people give to the word excel.
- We use “excel” to say that someone has overcome all his limitations.
- We use “excel” as a word that illustrates the excellent quality of things, tangible or intangible.
- To establish the competition and desire to succeed that exists between people.
- To say that the final result of something exceeded all people’s expectations.
- We use “Excel” as a measurement standard for the achievement of some objective.
- To mention Microsoft’s calculation software.
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The Use Of “Excel” In The World Of Computer Science
Undoubtedly, many people first recognize the word “excel” by its association with Microsoft’s computer company rather than by its definition as a verb. “Excel” as a word is synonymous with computers and spreadsheets. Because of this massive importance, let’s review some concepts of “excel” that we all use in the computer world.
What Is Microsoft Excel?
Excel is a computer program that Microsoft created to use spreadsheets to help us organize numbers, make tables with formulas, and create functions. The Excel program has a worldwide presence, and companies of all sizes use it to make their financial analysis.
The Origin Of Microsoft Excel
Microsoft launched Excel software in 1985. This popular program allows data to be organized into columns and rows that the operator manages through mathematical formulas. But how did people work before Excel?
Previously, the king of spreadsheets was the Lotus Development Corporation with the Lotus 1-2-3 program. In 1982, Lotus dominated this spreadsheet market for personal computers. These computers ran an operating system, MS-DOS, which Microsoft owned.
Microsoft understood the considerable market opportunity and developed a competing spreadsheet with more powerful graphics and faster data processing. Microsoft knew that Lotus technology was not compatible with Apple’s Macintosh computers. And it was precisely in this niche that Microsoft first launched its Excel program. This lack of competitors in this segment allowed Excel to become very popular very quickly.
In 1987 Microsoft released a new version of Excel for the Windows operating system. Lotus was too slow to react, and Excel could continue to expand its market share to become the leading spreadsheet of the 1990s.
Over the years, the Excel program has incorporated essential improvements such as toolbars, drawings, 3D graphics, and much more specialized functions.
What Do We Use Excel?
People use Excel to organize data and do financial analysis. Virtually every business and household on the planet uses this program. Some of its uses are:
- Data entry
- Data management
- Accounting work
- Financial analysis
- To create graphs, tables, and charts
- Scheduling
- Time and task management tasks
- Financial modeling
- To manage customer relationships
Example Of The Use Of The Word “Excel” In Everyday Sentences
For this last part of the article, we will review some examples with the word “excel” to illustrate the correct use of this term.
- The sales team excels in the challenging goals they had this year.
- The American athlete excels in his record against all odds.
- This month’s cotton production excels last month’s result.
- I don’t know how I will excel in the grades needed to get the scholarship.
- Jane wants to excel in Charles’ indicators at all costs to earn a promotion to supervisor.
A Final Thought On The Words “Excel” And “Excell”
Grammatical and spelling errors should not be a cause for embarrassment. No one is exempt from making them; in any case, they are mistakes that should serve as fuel for us to study and improve every day.
The words “excel, and “excel” are living examples of how easy it can be to make mistakes that we think we master perfectly.
The road to knowledge is long but satisfactory; we only have to adopt continuous study as our inseparable companion in this journey.
Shawn Manaher is the founder and CEO of The Content Authority. He’s one part content manager, one part writing ninja organizer, and two parts leader of top content creators. You don’t even want to know what he calls pancakes.