Completing

How to spell completing

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce completing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does completing mean?

1. verbIn the process of finishing or making something whole.

Completing in a sentence

• She spent the weekend completing the tax return before the deadline.

• Completing the marathon left him exhausted but proud.

Where does completing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'complete', which traces back to the Latin verb complere, meaning 'to fill up' or 'to fulfil'. That verb joined the intensifying prefix com- to the root plere, 'to fill', the same root that sits inside words like 'replete' and 'plenty'. The past participle completus, 'filled up' or 'finished', passed through Old French as complet before English adopted it in the late 1300s, first as an adjective meaning 'whole' or 'finished' and later as a verb. The -ing form simply marks the ongoing action of bringing something to its full or finished state. Remembering that hidden 'fill' sense of plere helps fix the single 'l' and the 'plet' spelling, since the word is built on one full filling rather than a doubled letter.

How the word is built

• com- (intensifier, fully)
• plet (from plere: to fill)
• -ing (present participle suffix)