Originating

How to spell originating

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce originating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does originating mean?

1. verbBeginning to exist, or coming from a particular source or place.

Originating in a sentence

• The train originating in Manchester was running late.

• Payments originating from foreign accounts must be declared to the tax office.

Where does originating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'originate', which descends from the Latin noun origo, meaning 'a beginning, a source, or a rise', itself built on the verb oriri, 'to rise, to spring up, or to be born'. The same oriri gives us 'orient' (the direction of the rising sun) and 'aboriginal', so the family is all about things coming into being. English took 'origin' through Old French and Latin in the 1500s, and by the early 1600s writers had coined the verb 'originate' to mean 'to bring or come into existence'. The form 'originating' simply adds the participle ending -ing to describe the act of starting from a source. The spelling trap lies in the unstressed middle: the schwa vowels in 'or-IJ-in-ate-ing' hide the fact that there is a single 'g' followed by 'in', and that the silent pattern is origin + ating, not 'originateing'.

How the word is built

• origin (from origo: beginning, source)
• -ate (verb)
• -ing (present participle)