Departing

How to spell departing

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce departing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does departing mean?

1. verbLeaving a place, especially at the start of a journey, or about to leave.

Departing in a sentence

• The departing flight to Madrid is now boarding at gate twelve.

• She waved to the departing guests from the front doorway.

Where does departing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb partire, meaning 'to divide' or 'to separate', combined with the prefix de-, which carried the sense of 'away from'. The combined idea, roughly 'to take oneself away by separating', passed into Old French as departir, where it meant both 'to divide up' and 'to go away'. English adopted it in the 1200s, at first keeping the older meaning of dividing or sharing out, which is why an old wedding vow once read 'till death us depart'. Over time the 'go away' sense took over almost entirely, and the present participle departing simply marks that leaving as it happens. The same part root still lives openly in everyday words such as 'part', 'partition', and 'apartment', a handy reminder that the spelling keeps that visible -part- in the middle.

How the word is built

• de- (away, from)
• part (to divide, go separate ways)
• -ing (present participle suffix)