Educating

How to spell educating

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce educating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does educating mean?

1. verbGiving someone knowledge, training, or instruction.

Educating in a sentence

• The charity spends most of its budget on educating children in rural villages.

• The company is educating its staff about the new safety rules.

Where does educating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb educare, meaning 'to bring up, train, or rear', which was closely linked to educere, 'to lead out' or 'to draw forth', built from ex 'out' and ducere 'to lead'. The underlying image was of leading a young person out of ignorance and drawing out their potential. English adopted 'educate' in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, initially in the sense of rearing and instructing children, and the present participle 'educating' simply adds the -ing ending. The same ducere root, meaning 'to lead', also gives us familiar relatives such as 'conduct', 'produce', and 'reduce'. Remembering that 'duc' means 'to lead' helps fix the spelling: it is a single c followed by -ating, not a -ca- or -gat- as the soft sounds might suggest.

How the word is built

• e- (out, from ex-)
• duc (to lead)
• -ate (verb suffix)
• -ing (present participle)