Basing

How to spell basing

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce basing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does basing mean?

1. verbFounding or establishing something on a particular foundation, evidence, or set of assumptions.

Basing in a sentence

• The analyst is basing the forecast on last quarter's sales figures.

• They are basing the entire project budget on a single supplier's quote.

Where does basing come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This is the present participle of the verb 'base', which traces back through Old French to the Latin noun basis, meaning a 'foundation' or 'pedestal'. The Latin word was itself borrowed from Greek basis, which literally meant a 'step' or 'a place to stand', formed from the verb bainein, 'to walk or step'. The original sense of something you set your foot or weight upon naturally extended to the physical bottom of a structure, and then to the figurative idea of grounding an argument or decision on supporting evidence. English picked up the noun in the 1300s and developed the verb 'to base' by the 1500s, meaning 'to found or establish on'. The spelling trap in 'basing' is simply that the final e of 'base' disappears before the -ing ending, so the word keeps a single s and never doubles it.

How the word is built

• base (foundation, from Greek basis: step, pedestal)
• -ing (present participle suffix; the silent e is dropped before -ing)