Peacekeeping

How to spell peacekeeping

12 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce peacekeeping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does peacekeeping mean?

1. nounThe activity of preventing or limiting conflict, especially the deployment of international forces to monitor a ceasefire or maintain order.

Peacekeeping in a sentence

• The soldiers were trained for peacekeeping rather than combat.

• The country contributed troops to a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

Where does peacekeeping come from?

Language of origin: French

This is a transparent English compound, built from two very old words. 'Peace' arrived in the 1100s from Old French 'pais', which descended from the Latin 'pax', meaning the absence of war or a state of calm; 'keep' is a native Old English word, 'cepan', meaning to seize, hold, or maintain. Joined together, the phrase 'keeping the peace' long described the duty of magistrates and constables to prevent disorder. The single closed-up noun 'peacekeeping' is much younger, emerging in the twentieth century and becoming widespread after 1945 to name the international work of monitoring ceasefires and separating warring parties, especially under United Nations forces. Because both halves are familiar everyday words, the only real spelling puzzle is remembering it is written as one solid word and keeping the double 'e' in both 'peace' and 'keep'.

How the word is built

• peace (calm, freedom from conflict)
• keep (to maintain)
• -ing (gerund/noun suffix)