Deceiving

How to spell deceiving

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce deceiving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deceiving mean?

1. verbCausing someone to believe something untrue, or giving a false impression.

Deceiving in a sentence

• The salesman was deceiving his customers about the warranty.

• The calm surface of the lake is deceiving, because the current beneath is strong.

Where does deceiving come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb decipere, which literally meant 'to ensnare' or 'to catch by trickery', built from the prefix de- meaning 'from' or 'away' and capere meaning 'to take' or 'to seize'. The idea was of taking someone in, of catching them out, which is still exactly what deceiving does today. English borrowed it through Old French deceivre and decevoir in the 1200s and 1300s, settling on the spelling 'deceive' with its troublesome -ei- ending. That spelling follows the familiar rule of 'i before e except after c', and the c in deceive is the very reason the order flips to -cei-. The same capere root appears in many relatives, including receive, perceive, conceive and capture, all of which share both the meaning of taking and the same spelling trap.

How the word is built

• de- (from, away)
• ceive (from Latin capere: to take)
• -ing (present participle)