Detecting

How to spell detecting

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce detecting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does detecting mean?

1. verbDiscovering or noticing the presence of something hidden, faint, or not obvious.

Detecting in a sentence

• The new alarm is capable of detecting smoke within seconds.

• Detecting fraud early can save a company a great deal of money.

Where does detecting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb detegere, which literally meant 'to uncover' or 'to unroof', formed from the prefix de- ('off, away') and tegere ('to cover'). To detect something was therefore to strip the cover off it and bring it to light. English adopted the verb 'detect' in the late 1300s, at first in the sense of exposing wrongdoing or revealing a hidden fault, and the form 'detecting' is simply its present participle. The same tegere root that means 'to cover' also survives in everyday words such as 'protect' (to cover in front of) and even 'tile' and 'thatch', the materials that cover a roof. Knowing that the middle is tect (from the covering root), not 'teck', helps fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• de- (off, away)
• tect (from tegere: to cover)
• -ing (present participle/verb suffix)