Awarding

How to spell awarding

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce awarding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does awarding mean?

1. verbOfficially granting a prize, contract, sum, or recognition to someone after a decision.

Awarding in a sentence

• The committee is awarding grants to several small businesses this quarter.

• The panel responsible for awarding the contract met yesterday afternoon.

Where does awarding come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle of the verb 'award', which entered English from Anglo-Norman French in the 1300s. The Old French source was eswarder or agarder, meaning 'to examine carefully and then decide', built from the prefix a- 'to' and the verb warder 'to watch over or guard'. That warder element is itself of Germanic origin and is a close cousin of the native English word 'ward', as in guarding or watching, which is why the spelling keeps that 'ward' core intact. The original legal sense was about a judge or arbitrator weighing a matter and handing down a decision, and from that idea of a considered ruling came the modern meaning of granting a prize, sum, or contract to someone. When you add '-ing' the spelling stays completely regular: simply 'award' plus the suffix, with no doubling and no dropped letters.

How the word is built

• a- (to, from Old French)
• ward (root: to watch over, guard, decide)
• -ing (verb/gerund suffix)