Modelling

How to spell modelling

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce modelling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does modelling mean?

1. nounThe act of making a physical, mathematical, or computer representation of something in order to study, design, or predict it.
2. nounThe occupation of displaying clothes, products, or one's appearance for photographers, designers, or advertisers.

Modelling in a sentence

• The team relied on computer modelling to predict where the river would flood.

• She earned extra money through modelling while studying at university.

• Three-dimensional modelling helped the architects refine the building before construction began.

• His modelling career began with a small local catalogue shoot.

Where does modelling come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from 'model', which came into English in the late 1500s from the French 'modelle', itself taken from the Italian 'modello'. That Italian form descended from a Vulgar Latin 'modellus', a diminutive of the Latin 'modulus', which was in turn a diminutive of 'modus', meaning 'a measure' or 'a standard'. So at its root a model was literally a 'little measure', a small pattern by which something larger could be judged or made, which is why the same family gave us 'mode', 'module', and 'moderate'. The verb 'to model' developed naturally, and adding '-ing' produced the noun for the activity. The spelling trap lies in the final consonant: British and Canadian usage doubles the 'l' (modelling) even though the stress falls on the first syllable, whereas American usage keeps a single 'l' (modeling), and writers in Britain and Canada see the American form so often that the doubled letter is easy to lose.

How the word is built

• model (from Latin modulus: a small measure)
• -l- (doubled before the suffix in British and Canadian spelling)
• -ing (verbal noun suffix)

British and American spelling

Modelling is the British spelling. American English spells it modeling.