Licensing

How to spell licensing

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce licensing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does licensing mean?

1. verbThe act of granting or holding a formal permit, right, or authorisation, especially to use, sell, or produce something.

Licensing in a sentence

• The council is responsible for licensing all the food stalls at the market.

• The software company earns most of its revenue from licensing its technology to other firms.

Where does licensing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin licentia, meaning 'freedom' or 'permission', which itself grew from the verb licere, literally 'to be allowed' or 'to be lawful'. The noun passed into English through Old French as 'licence' during the 1300s, carrying the sense of a formal grant of permission. English later developed a verb, 'to license', meaning to grant such permission, and 'licensing' is the gerund and present-participle form of that verb. A useful spelling point is that the verb is written with an 's' in both British and American usage, even though British English keeps a 'c' in the noun 'licence'; so the action form 'licensing' always takes the 's'. The same licere root survives in 'licentious' and even in 'leisure', words that all circle back to the idea of being free to do something.

How the word is built

• licens- (from license: a formal permission)
• -ing (verb/noun suffix)

British and American spelling

Licensing is the American spelling. British English spells it licencing.