Joining

How to spell joining

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce joining

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does joining mean?

1. verbThe act of connecting, fastening, or coming together with something or someone.

Joining in a sentence

• She is joining the local running club next month.

• The carpenter is joining the two planks with strong glue.

Where does joining come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle and gerund of the verb 'join', which English took from Old French 'joindre' in the 1200s. That French verb descends from the Latin 'jungere', meaning literally 'to yoke together' or 'to harness', the same root that gave us 'junction', 'conjunction', and even 'yoga' through a distant Sanskrit cousin meaning 'union'. The original image was very physical: animals bound side by side under one yoke to pull a cart, and the sense broadened to any act of bringing two things together. The 'g' in the spelling preserves the soft sound carried over from the French 'joindre', while the '-ing' ending is a native English addition. Because the root verb simply ends in a vowel-plus-n, no consonant is doubled when '-ing' is added, which is the small spelling decision most writers get right by instinct.

How the word is built

• join (from Latin jungere: to yoke, connect)
• -ing (verb/gerund suffix)