Debating

How to spell debating

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce debating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does debating mean?

1. verbDiscussing or arguing about a question, often formally, by presenting opposing points of view.

Debating in a sentence

• The council is debating the proposed budget cuts this week.

• The two candidates spent an hour debating healthcare reform on stage.

Where does debating come from?

Language of origin: French

The word descends from the Latin battuere, meaning 'to beat' or 'to strike', the same root that gave us 'battle' and 'batter'. In Old French this developed into debatre, where the prefix de- (here used to intensify) combined with batre 'to beat', producing the sense of beating something out through argument. English borrowed it in the 1300s as 'debaten', first meaning to quarrel or fight, and only later softening into the modern idea of orderly verbal argument over an issue. The form 'debating' is simply the present participle, formed by adding -ing to 'debate'. Knowing that the core is a single 'bate' (one t, one b) helps fix the spelling, since the underlying battuere is long forgotten and the doubled letters never carried into English.

How the word is built

• de- (down, thoroughly)
• bate (from battere: to beat, fight)
• -ing (present participle suffix)