Deserving

How to spell deserving

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce deserving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deserving mean?

1. adjectiveWorthy of reward, support, or recognition because of merit or need.

Deserving in a sentence

• The grant committee chose the most deserving applicant.

• The charity directs its funds toward genuinely deserving families.

Where does deserving come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin deservire, which meant 'to serve zealously' or 'to serve well', formed from the intensifying prefix de- and servire 'to serve'. In late Latin the sense drifted from diligent service toward the reward that good service earns, so that to deserve became to be worthy of something. English took the word in around the 1300s through Old French deservir, and the present participle deserving settled into use as an adjective describing a person or cause genuinely worthy of help or reward. The shared root servire also gives us the everyday words 'serve', 'servant', and 'service', which is a useful reminder that the middle of deserving is simply the verb serve. Because the unstressed first syllable sounds like 'di', writers sometimes hesitate over the opening de-, but remembering the serve at its heart keeps the spelling steady.

How the word is built

• de- (thoroughly, from Latin de-)
• serv (to serve, from Latin servire)
• -ing (adjective/participle suffix)