Fencing

How to spell fencing

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fencing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fencing mean?

1. nounMaterial or structures used to make fences, or fences considered collectively.
2. nounThe sport or art of fighting with swords such as the foil, epee, or sabre.

Fencing in a sentence

• The farmer ordered new fencing to keep the cattle in the field.

• She took up fencing at university and won a medal with the foil.

• Rusted wire fencing ran along the edge of the property.

• Competitive fencing requires a mask, a jacket, and a flexible blade.

Where does fencing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Fencing grows out of the noun and verb 'fence', which is itself a clipped form of 'defence'. That older word came into Middle English from Old French 'defens', which traced back to the Latin 'defendere', meaning 'to ward off' or 'to protect', built from 'de-' (away) and 'fendere' (to strike). The earliest sense of 'fence' was therefore the act of defending oneself, and by the 1500s 'fencing' had come to name the art of defence with a sword, the skill of parrying and thrusting. Around the same period the same word was applied to the physical barriers that 'fence in' land, since a fence wards off intruders just as a swordsman wards off blows. The shared idea of warding off is the thread that links the sport, the barrier, and even the slang use of 'fence' for someone who handles stolen goods. The 'c' in the spelling survives directly from 'defence', which is worth remembering when reaching for the word.

How the word is built

• fenc- (from fence, a shortening of defence)
• -ing (noun-forming suffix)