Injuring

How to spell injuring

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce injuring

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does injuring mean?

1. verbCausing physical harm or damage to a person, animal, or part of the body.

Injuring in a sentence

• The wet floor risks injuring unsuspecting visitors.

• He apologised for injuring his teammate during the match.

Where does injuring come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin noun injuria, which meant a wrong, an injustice, or a violation of someone's rights. That noun was built from in-, meaning 'not' or 'contrary to', combined with ius (genitive iuris), the Latin word for 'right' or 'law'; so the literal sense was something done against what is lawful and right. English took up the verb 'injure' through Old French in the late medieval period, and it first carried the idea of doing someone a legal wrong or insult before narrowing to the modern sense of causing physical harm. The same iuris root still sits inside everyday words such as 'jury', 'justice', and 'jurisdiction', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the 'jur' of law rather than a 'ger' or 'jer'. When the silent-final 'e' of 'injure' meets the '-ing' ending, that 'e' is dropped, giving 'injuring', which is the small spelling step worth remembering.

How the word is built

• in- (not, contrary to)
• jur (right, law, from Latin ius/iuris)
• -ing (present participle suffix)