Finishing

How to spell finishing

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce finishing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does finishing mean?

1. verbBringing a task or activity to its end; completing something.
2. nounThe final surface treatment or decorative work applied to a manufactured item.

Finishing in a sentence

• verb

  She is finishing the quarterly report before the meeting.

• noun

  The cabinet needs a coat of lacquer for a smooth finishing.

• verb

  He spent the evening finishing the last chapter of his novel.

• noun

  The factory added a metal finishing department to polish the parts.

Where does finishing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun finis, which literally meant 'an end' or 'a boundary marker', the line at which something stopped. From finis the Romans formed the verb finire, meaning 'to bring to an end' or 'to limit'. As Latin developed into Old French, finire became finir, and English borrowed it during the 1300s as 'finish', meaning 'to complete' or 'to bring to a close'. The form 'finishing' is simply that verb carrying the familiar -ing ending, used either as a present participle or as a gerund. The same finis root quietly survives in everyday words like 'final', 'finite', 'definite' and even 'fine' (as in a monetary penalty that settles, or 'ends', a matter), which is a handy reminder that the spelling keeps the single n and single sh of the original stem.

How the word is built

• fin- (root from Latin finis: end, boundary)
• -ish (verb-forming, via Old French finir)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)