Governaunce

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The system, method, or process by which an organization, institution, or state is managed and controlled
2. The framework of rules, practices, and procedures through which authority is exercised and decisions are made in an institution or domain
3. The manner in which something is directed, regulated, or administered by those holding power or responsibility

Etymology: Before it meant directing a state or an organisation, the root of this word meant steering a ship. Its base, "govern", reached Old French from Latin "gubernare", "to steer a vessel", and that Latin verb was itself borrowed from Greek "kybernan", with the same nautical sense. The image of a helmsman keeping a course is the seed of the whole family of words for controlling and directing. The Middle English form "governaunce" was taken from Old French "gouvernance", built from "govern" and the suffix "-ance". That suffix turns a verb into a noun for the act or condition of doing it, so the word originally named the activity of governing. The spelling later settled into the modern "governance".