material and materiel

Material is the matter from which a thing is made.
Materiel is the equipment or supplies in military or commercial supply-chain management.

Most of us know what material is (i.e., it's what things are made of), but many of us are unsure what materiel is.

Materiel

The word materiel means the equipment and supplies in military or commercial supply-chain management. So, a forklift truck (which is equipment used in the supply chain) and a can of petrol (which is one of the supplies) would both be classified as materiel. In other words, materiel is the things a military force or a business needs to do its job.

Examples:

Material

Material means matter, fabric, substance, or cloth. It is the matter from which a thing is made. As an adjective, material denotes that something is physical. (You might have material needs as opposed to physical needs or emotional needs, e.g., "I have material needs. I need a car not a hug."

Examples:
MATERIEL = EQUIPMENT

Let the last e in materiel remind you that it means equipment.



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See Also

What are nouns? What are verbs? List of easily confused words