Capturing

How to spell capturing

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce capturing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does capturing mean?

1. verbIn the act of catching, seizing, or recording something so that it is held or preserved.

Capturing in a sentence

• The photographer spent the afternoon capturing the wedding on film.

• The new software is good at capturing customer data during checkout.

Where does capturing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb capere, which literally meant 'to take hold of' or 'to seize'. From it came the noun captura, meaning 'a catching' or 'the taking of something', which English adopted as 'capture' around the late 1500s, first as a noun for an act of seizing and soon afterward as a verb. The present participle 'capturing' simply adds the -ing ending to that verb. The same capere root is hidden inside a whole family of everyday English words, including 'captive', 'capable', 'receive' and even 'caption', so the central 'capt' spelling is well worth fixing in the memory. The 'tu' that softens into a 'ch' sound (capt-ure) is the spot where writers sometimes hesitate, but it comes straight from that Latin captura.

How the word is built

• capt- (from Latin capere: to seize, take)
• -ure (noun/action suffix)
• -ing (present participle)