Analysing

How to spell analysing

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce analysing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does analysing mean?

1. verbExamining something in detail by breaking it into parts to understand it or draw conclusions.

Analysing in a sentence

• The accountant spent the afternoon analysing the quarterly figures.

• Analysing the survey results helped the team spot a clear trend.

Where does analysing come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This is the present participle of the verb 'analyse', which traces back through French to the Greek word analusis, meaning 'a loosening up' or 'a breaking apart'. The Greek term was built from ana, meaning 'up' or 'throughout', and luein, the verb 'to loosen' or 'to release', so the literal idea was untying something into its separate strands. Latin scholars borrowed the noun as analysis, and English took the verb form in the 1500s, partly through the French analyser, to describe the act of separating a whole into its parts for study. The 's' in the British and Canadian spelling preserves the look of the French and the Greek root, whereas American usage swaps in a 'z' to match the spoken sound. The same Greek luein lurks inside words like 'paralysis' and 'catalyst', all of which share that core sense of loosening or releasing.

How the word is built

• ana- (up, throughout)
• lys (from Greek lysis: a loosening)
• -ing (present participle suffix)

British and American spelling

Analysing is the British spelling. American English spells it analyzing.