Counselling

How to spell counselling

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce counselling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does counselling mean?

1. nounThe professional process of giving guidance or therapeutic support to help someone resolve personal or psychological difficulties.
2. verbPresent participle of counsel: the act of advising or guiding someone.

Counselling in a sentence

• noun

  The company offers free counselling to staff after a bereavement.

• verb

  He spent the afternoon counselling a colleague through a difficult decision.

• noun

  She booked weekly counselling to help her cope with anxiety.

• verb

  The mentor was patiently counselling the new recruits on workplace etiquette.

Where does counselling come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin consilium, which meant 'advice', 'deliberation', or a body of people gathered to take counsel together, built on the verb consulere, 'to consult or take advice'. It passed into English through the Old French conseil during the 1200s, settling as 'counsel' for the giving of advice and guidance. From that base came the verb 'to counsel', and 'counselling' is its verbal noun, describing the ongoing act of advising. Over the twentieth century the sense narrowed and professionalised, so that today it most often means structured therapeutic guidance offered by a trained practitioner. The spelling trap is the doubled l: in British and Canadian usage the final l of 'counsel' doubles before -ing even though the stress falls on the first syllable, which is exactly the pattern American spelling drops in 'counseling'. It is also worth keeping 'counsel' (advice) distinct from its homophone 'council' (an assembly), since only the advice word produces 'counselling'.

How the word is built

• counsel (from Latin consilium: advice, deliberation)
• -ling (-ing verbal noun, with the final l doubled in British and Canadian spelling)

British and American spelling

Counselling is the British spelling. American English spells it counseling.