Organizing

How to spell organizing

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce organizing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does organizing mean?

1. verbArranging people, tasks, or things into an orderly, working structure.

Organizing in a sentence

• She spent the weekend organizing the garage so every tool had a place.

• Organizing the conference took months of careful planning.

Where does organizing come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek organon, which literally meant 'tool' or 'instrument', and by extension a part of the body that does a particular job. Latin took it up as organum, and from there medieval Latin formed organizare, meaning 'to arrange into a working whole, to give an orderly structure to'. English borrowed the verb through French organiser in the late Middle Ages, originally with the sense of furnishing something with organs or parts so that it could function as a living body. Over time the meaning broadened from 'give bodily structure to' into the familiar modern sense of arranging people, tasks, or things into a coherent system. The -ize ending here reflects the Greek-derived suffix izein 'to make or do', and the present participle simply adds -ing, dropping nothing because organize already ends in a consonant before the silent e is removed.

How the word is built

• organ (instrument, tool)
• -ize (verb-forming suffix: to make or do)
• -ing (present participle/gerund)

British and American spelling

Organizing is the American spelling. British English spells it organising.