Examining

How to spell examining

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce examining

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does examining mean?

1. verbInspecting, studying, or testing something or someone closely to learn about its condition, nature, or correctness.

Examining in a sentence

• The doctor spent ten minutes examining the swollen ankle before ordering an x-ray.

• Auditors are examining last year's invoices for any discrepancies.

Where does examining come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb examinare, which meant 'to weigh, to test, or to consider carefully'. It was built on the noun examen, the literal name for the tongue or pointer of a weighing balance, the slender needle that swings to show whether two pans are level. From that very concrete image of weighing something to judge its true value, the sense broadened to any careful scrutiny or testing. English took the word through Old French examiner in the 1300s, and the familiar noun 'exam' is simply a clipped, much later offshoot of the same family. Knowing the root is examen with a single m and a single n is a handy guard against the common urge to double those letters when spelling examining.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• amin (from Latin examen, the tongue or needle of a balance)
• -ing (present participle suffix)