Influencing

How to spell influencing

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce influencing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does influencing mean?

1. verbHaving an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something.

Influencing in a sentence

• The marketing team spent months influencing public opinion before the launch.

• She was accused of influencing the committee in favour of her own proposal.

Where does influencing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb influere, meaning 'to flow in', formed from in- ('into') and fluere ('to flow'), the same root that gives us 'fluid' and 'fluent'. In Medieval Latin the noun influentia took on an astrological sense: it described an unseen fluid or power that was thought to stream down from the stars and shape human affairs. English borrowed the word through Old French around the 1300s, at first keeping that celestial meaning before it broadened into the modern idea of one person or thing quietly shaping another. The present participle 'influencing' simply adds -ing to 'influence', and because the base word ends in a silent -e, that letter is dropped before the suffix; remembering the hidden 'flow' (flu) at its heart helps fix both the spelling and the sense.

How the word is built

• in- (into)
• flu (flow, from Latin fluere)
• -ence (state/quality)
• -ing (present participle)