Arming

How to spell arming

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce arming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does arming mean?

1. verbSupplying or equipping a person, group, or country with weapons.
2. verbSwitching a device or system into a ready, active, or live state, such as a security alarm or an explosive.

Arming in a sentence

• The report accused the regime of secretly arming rebel groups.

• Arming the house alarm requires a four-digit code at the keypad.

• Arming the entire garrison took several weeks of planning.

• The technician was arming the timer before the controlled demolition.

Where does arming come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'to arm', which comes from the Latin noun arma, meaning 'weapons' or 'tools of war'. The Latin word passed into Old French as armer, 'to equip with weapons', and English borrowed it in the 1200s, adding the native English ending -ing to form continuous and gerund uses such as 'arming'. It is worth noting that the body-part 'arm' is a different and much older native English word from Old Saxon roots, even though the two are now spelled identically; the weapon sense is the Latin one. The same arma root sits inside the everyday words 'armour', 'army', and 'armada'. Because the word is short and the spelling simply follows the predictable pattern of dropping nothing before -ing, it rarely causes adults any trouble.

How the word is built

• arm (weapon; from Latin arma)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)