Dividing

How to spell dividing

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce dividing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dividing mean?

1. verbSplitting something into parts, or separating it from something else.

Dividing in a sentence

• The manager spent the afternoon dividing the workload between the two teams.

• A low brick wall runs along the boundary, dividing the two gardens.

Where does dividing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of 'divide', which English took from the Latin verb dividere, meaning 'to force apart' or 'to separate into parts'. The Latin verb was built from dis-, meaning 'apart', joined to a second element related to the idea of separating or setting aside; scholars link it to the same ancient root that gave Latin vidua, 'widow', literally a woman set apart. English adopted divide in the late 1300s, first in the practical senses of splitting land, sharing out goods, and the arithmetic operation. The spelling stays reassuringly regular: a single d in the middle and a long 'i' sound in the stressed second syllable, with the final silent 'e' of 'divide' dropped before the -ing is added. The same dividere root also survives in 'individual', literally something that cannot be divided.

How the word is built

• di- (from dis-, apart)
• vid (from -videre, to separate or split)
• -ing (present participle suffix)