Indulging

How to spell indulging

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce indulging

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does indulging mean?

1. verbAllowing oneself or another to enjoy a pleasure or desire, often something not strictly necessary.

Indulging in a sentence

• She spent the weekend indulging in chocolate and old films.

• He saw no harm in indulging his children with the occasional treat.

Where does indulging come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb indulgere, which meant 'to be courteous or lenient' and, by extension, 'to give oneself up to' a pleasure or person. The Romans used it both for granting favours to others and for yielding to one's own desires, a double sense that survives in modern English. It entered English in the early 1600s, partly through legal and religious language, where an 'indulgence' was a granted remission or favour. The base verb 'indulge' keeps a silent letter pattern only in the sense that adding -ing simply drops the final 'e', giving 'indulging' rather than 'indulgeing'. Remembering that the 'g' is soft, sounding like 'j', helps explain why no extra 'e' is needed before the suffix.

How the word is built

• indulge (from Latin indulgere: to be lenient, to give oneself up to)
• -ing (present participle suffix)