Leasing

How to spell leasing

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce leasing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does leasing mean?

1. nounThe practice or business of letting out property, vehicles, or equipment for use over a fixed term in return for payment.
2. verbPresent participle of 'lease': in the process of granting or taking property for use under a fixed-term agreement.

Leasing in a sentence

• noun

  The company switched from buying its vans to leasing to keep cash free.

• verb

  The landlord is currently leasing the upstairs flat to a young couple.

• noun

  Commercial property leasing has slowed across the city this year.

• verb

  They are leasing the warehouse for another three years.

Where does leasing come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows out of the noun and verb 'lease', which English took from Anglo-French and Old French in the late 1300s. The Old French verb was 'laissier' (in some dialects 'lesser'), meaning 'to let go, to leave, or to let out for hire', and it descends from the Latin 'laxare', meaning 'to loosen or release', which itself comes from 'laxus', meaning 'loose or slack'. The idea of loosening one's hold on something shaded naturally into the legal sense of handing property over to another for a fixed term in return for payment. By adding the ending '-ing', English formed 'leasing' to name the continuing activity or business of renting out property, equipment, or vehicles. The same Latin 'laxus' lies behind the English words 'lax' and 'relax', a useful reminder that to lease something is, in origin, to let it loose into another's keeping. The spelling keeps the 'ea' of 'lease' intact, so the only real trap is remembering that the silent final 'e' is dropped before the suffix.

How the word is built

• lease (from Old French laisser: to let, leave)
• -ing (forms a verbal noun or present participle)