Observing

How to spell observing

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce observing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does observing mean?

1. verbPresent participle of observe: watching, noticing, or studying something carefully.
2. verbPresent participle of observe in the sense of keeping or following a rule, custom, or holiday.

Observing in a sentence

• She sat at the back, quietly observing the meeting without saying a word.

• The office stayed closed, observing the public holiday like every other business in town.

• The biologist spent the morning observing the cells through the microscope.

• By observing the safety rules at all times, the crew avoided any accidents.

Where does observing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'observe', which English took from the Latin verb observare during the late 1300s, largely by way of Old French observer. The Latin word was built from the prefix ob-, meaning 'toward' or 'over', joined to servare, meaning 'to keep, watch, or guard'. So at root, to observe was to keep one's eyes over something, both in the sense of watching it closely and in the sense of keeping or obeying a rule or custom, which is why we still 'observe' both the stars and the law. The same servare root survives in 'preserve', 'conserve', and 'reserve', all of which carry the idea of keeping. Because the spelling tracks neatly onto serv plus -ing, the only thing to watch is the unstressed first syllable, which sounds like a vague 'ob' but is spelled with that single b.

How the word is built

• ob- (toward, over)
• serv (to watch, keep)
• -ing (present participle suffix)