Costing
nounThe calculation or estimate of all the expenses involved in producing or doing something.
How to spell costing
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce costing
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does costing mean?
- nounThe calculation or estimate of all the expenses involved in producing or doing something.
- verbPresent participle of 'cost': having a particular price or requiring a particular expenditure.
Costing in a sentence
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noun
The detailed costing for the new factory took the accountants two weeks.
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verb
The daily commute is costing him far more than he expected.
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noun
The bid included a full costing of materials and labour.
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verb
Running the old heater all winter ended up costing a small fortune.
Where does costing come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word is built on the verb 'cost', which entered English in the 1200s from Old French 'coster' or 'couster', meaning 'to be priced at'. That French verb came in turn from the Latin 'constare', literally 'to stand together' or 'to stand firm', formed from 'con-' (together) and 'stare' (to stand); when applied to money it carried the sense of a price that something 'stands at'. Adding the native English suffix '-ing' turned the verb into both a present participle ('it is costing me a fortune') and a noun used in business and accounting for the systematic working out of expenses. The same Latin 'stare' root surfaces in many English words such as 'stable', 'constant', and 'status', all sharing the idea of standing or being fixed. Because 'cost' has a single straightforward consonant and a plain '-ing', the spelling holds no real surprises beyond resisting the urge to double the final 't'.
How the word is built
- cost (price, charge)
- -ing (gerund / noun-forming suffix)
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