Decorating

How to spell decorating

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce decorating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does decorating mean?

1. verbAdding beauty or ornament to something, or painting and furnishing a room or building.

Decorating in a sentence

• They spent the long weekend decorating the spare bedroom in soft grey.

• She enjoys decorating the cake with fresh berries and piped cream.

Where does decorating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb decorare, meaning 'to adorn' or 'to make beautiful', which was built on the noun decus (genitive decoris), meaning 'ornament, grace, or beauty'. The same root also gave us 'decorous' and 'decorum', words about fitting, becoming behaviour, since what is beautiful was felt to be what is proper. English took 'decorate' in during the 1500s, at first meaning simply 'to add beauty or honour to' something, and the everyday sense of painting and furnishing a room is a later, more practical narrowing. The participle 'decorating' was then formed in the regular English way by adding -ing. A handy memory hook is that the heart of the word is plain 'decor', the French-flavoured term for a room's furnishings, with -ating tacked on the end.

How the word is built

• decor- (from Latin decus/decoris: ornament, beauty)
• -ate (verb)
• -ing (present participle/gerund)