Drafting

How to spell drafting

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce drafting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does drafting mean?

1. verbThe act of preparing a preliminary written version of a document or text.
2. verbThe act of producing precise technical or architectural drawings.
3. verbThe act of riding or driving closely behind another to reduce wind resistance.

Drafting in a sentence

• The lawyer spent the morning drafting the new contract.

• The engineer is drafting the blueprints for the new bridge.

• The cyclist saved energy by drafting behind the leader.

• She is drafting a reply to the formal complaint.

• Modern software has largely replaced drafting plans by hand.

• Drafting closely cut his fuel use on the long stretch.

Where does drafting come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word draft is simply a phonetic respelling of the older draught, a noun that comes from Old English and the broader Germanic family, built on the same root that gave us 'draw' and 'drag', and originally meaning 'a pulling' or 'a drawing'. From that idea of drawing came many branches: drawing air (a draught of wind), drawing liquid (a draught of beer), drawing animals (a draught horse), and drawing lines or words onto a page. By the 1700s English writers increasingly used the spelling 'draft' for the senses about pulling money (a bank draft) and sketching out a preliminary version of a document or design, while keeping 'draught' for the air and drink senses. The form 'drafting' is the gerund, naming the act of producing such a preliminary version, and it later picked up the technical sense of mechanical drawing and the sporting sense of following close behind to draw along in another's slipstream. Because it descends from a word about drawing and pulling, the silent connection to 'draw' is a handy way to remember the single f and the t.

How the word is built

• draft (from draught: a pulling, drawing)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)