Claiming

How to spell claiming

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce claiming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does claiming mean?

1. verbAsserting a right to something, or stating something firmly as true.

Claiming in a sentence

• She is claiming a refund for the cancelled flight.

• The company is claiming record profits this quarter.

Where does claiming come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'claim', which came into English in the early 1300s through Old French clamer, meaning 'to call out' or 'to declare loudly'. The Old French form descended from the Latin clamare, which literally meant 'to cry out, shout, or proclaim', and that sense of loud public assertion still lingers when a person noisily claims a right or a possession. The same clamare root also gave English 'exclaim', 'proclaim', and 'clamour', all of which carry that flavour of raised voices. The spelling keeps the vowel pair 'ai' from the French clamer, and when '-ing' is added the silent final consonant simply carries over, so the trap for writers is mostly remembering to retain that 'ai' rather than slipping into 'claming' or doubling the 'm'.

How the word is built

• claim (from Latin clamare: to cry out)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)