Exchanging

How to spell exchanging

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce exchanging

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exchanging mean?

1. verbGiving one thing and receiving another in return, or swapping items, words, or information between parties.

Exchanging in a sentence

• The two managers spent the morning exchanging ideas about the budget.

• Travellers were exchanging their pounds for euros at the airport desk.

Where does exchanging come from?

Language of origin: French

The core of this word is 'change', which English took from Old French changier during the medieval period. That French verb descended from the Late Latin cambiare, meaning 'to barter' or 'to swap one thing for another', a word that the Romans themselves seem to have borrowed from a Celtic root for trading. The prefix 'ex-' comes from Latin and means 'out' or 'away', so 'exchange' literally captures the idea of giving something out and receiving something back in return. English assembled 'exchange' in the late 1300s, originally in the world of commerce and currency, and the '-ing' form simply marks the ongoing action. The spelling trap lives in the silent setup of letters: the 'ex' is followed by 'ch' and then 'ang', and because the final 'e' of 'exchange' is dropped before '-ing', writers sometimes hesitate over whether that 'e' should remain.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, away)
• change (from Late Latin cambiare: to barter)
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix)