Existing

How to spell existing

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce existing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does existing mean?

1. adjectiveFound or in operation now; already in place rather than new or planned.
2. verbContinuing to be alive or to have reality; the present participle of 'exist'.

Existing in a sentence

• adjective

  The new policy replaces all existing guidelines for staff.

• verb

  The colony had been existing on rationed supplies for months.

• adjective

  Upgrading the existing software is cheaper than building a new system.

• verb

  Those traditions are still existing in remote villages today.

Where does existing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from the Latin verb existere, sometimes spelled exsistere, which literally meant 'to step out' or 'to come forth, to appear'. It was built from the prefix ex-, meaning 'out' or 'forth', joined to sistere, meaning 'to stand' or 'to take a stand', a verb closely related to stare, 'to stand'. The original sense was vivid and physical: something existing was something that had stepped forward into view and now stood there. English took the base verb 'exist' in the early 1600s, partly through French, and 'existing' is simply that verb with the familiar -ing ending doing duty as an adjective for whatever is currently present or in force. Knowing the hidden 'sist' (a standing) helps explain why the spelling keeps the single 's' followed by 't', the same shape seen in 'insist', 'persist' and 'resist'.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, forth)
• sist (from Latin sistere: to stand, come forth)
• -ing (present participle/adjective suffix)