Behaving

How to spell behaving

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce behaving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does behaving mean?

1. verbConducting oneself or functioning in a particular way.

Behaving in a sentence

• The children have been behaving well all through the long flight.

• He was behaving very oddly after the awkward meeting.

Where does behaving come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of 'behave', a word that took shape in late Middle English around the 1400s by combining the prefix 'be-' with the verb 'have'. The prefix 'be-' here works as an intensifier, while 'have' is used in an older reflexive sense meaning 'to hold or bear oneself', so to behave literally meant to hold yourself in a certain manner. Both pieces descend from Old English: 'be-' from the common Germanic prefix, and 'have' from the Old English 'habban', meaning to hold or possess. Over time the word narrowed to mean conducting oneself properly, especially with decorum or restraint, which is why we still tell people to 'behave'. The spelling can mislead writers because the silent 'e' of 'behave' is dropped before the '-ing' ending, leaving 'behaving' rather than 'behaveing'.

How the word is built

• be- (intensive prefix)
• have (to hold or bear oneself)
• -ing (present participle suffix)