Bargaining

How to spell bargaining

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce bargaining

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bargaining mean?

1. verbNegotiating the terms of an agreement, especially the price or conditions of a deal.

Bargaining in a sentence

• The union is bargaining for better pay and shorter shifts.

• Hard bargaining at the market got him a much lower price.

Where does bargaining come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows from 'bargain', which English took from the Old French verb bargaignier, meaning 'to haggle' or 'to dispute over a price'. The French verb is widely thought to come from a Germanic source related to the idea of lending or trading, perhaps connected to the Frankish word for borrowing or to a root meaning 'to busy oneself', though the exact path is not fully certain. English adopted both the noun and the verb in the 1300s, with 'bargain' first naming an agreement reached after discussion and then the act of negotiating that agreement. The '-ing' form turns that verb into the ongoing activity of negotiating, and it appears constantly in modern phrases such as 'collective bargaining' for labour talks. The single 'g' followed by '-aining' is the usual spelling trap, since the soft sound tempts writers toward an extra letter.

How the word is built

• bargain (from Old French bargaignier: to haggle)
• -ing (verbal noun/participle suffix)