Negotiating

How to spell negotiating

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce negotiating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does negotiating mean?

1. verbDiscussing something with others in order to reach a mutual agreement or settlement.
2. verbSuccessfully finding a way over, through, or around an obstacle or difficult situation.

Negotiating in a sentence

• The union spent weeks negotiating a new pay deal with management.

• The lorry had trouble negotiating the narrow mountain bend in the dark.

• We are still negotiating the price of the house with the sellers.

• He found negotiating the crowded station with heavy luggage exhausting.

Where does negotiating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb negotiari, meaning 'to carry on business' or 'to trade'. That verb grew from the noun negotium, 'business' or 'occupation', which was formed in a wonderfully logical way: neg- meaning 'not' joined to otium meaning 'leisure' or 'ease', so business literally meant 'the absence of leisure', or the work you do when you are not at rest. English picked the word up in the sixteenth century, partly through French negocier, first in the sense of conducting affairs and trade and later narrowing to the modern idea of bargaining toward an agreement. The spelling keeps that Latin -tia- cluster, which is exactly the trap: the 'ti' is pronounced like 'sh', so writers are tempted to write a 'c' where the etymology demands a 't'. Its quieter cousin in English is 'negotiable', which preserves the same root and the same tricky middle.

How the word is built

• neg- (not)
• oti- (from otium: leisure, ease)
• -ate (verb)
• -ing (present participle)