Imaging

How to spell imaging

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce imaging

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does imaging mean?

1. nounThe process or technique of producing visual representations of something, especially by medical or scientific equipment.
2. verbPresent participle of 'to image': forming or capturing a visual representation of something.

Imaging in a sentence

• noun

  The hospital invested in new imaging equipment for the radiology unit.

• verb

  The technician is imaging the patient's spine before the operation.

• noun

  Medical imaging revealed a small fracture in her wrist.

• verb

  The lab spent the afternoon imaging samples under the microscope.

Where does imaging come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin imago, meaning a 'likeness', 'copy', or 'representation', the same root that gives us 'image' and 'imagine'. The noun 'image' entered English through Old French in the 1200s, originally describing a sculpted or painted likeness, especially a religious figure. The form 'imaging' is the present participle and gerund of the verb 'to image', meaning to form or reproduce a picture of something. In the twentieth century it took on a strong technical life of its own, naming the whole process of producing visual representations by machine, as in medical scanning and satellite work. The spelling trap lives in the join: the silent e of 'image' drops out before the -ing, so it is 'imaging' and never 'imageing', a rule that catches writers who expect the e to survive.

How the word is built

• imag- (from Latin imago: likeness, picture)
• -ing (gerund/process suffix; the silent e of 'image' is dropped before -ing)