Pondering

How to spell pondering

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce pondering

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pondering mean?

1. verbThinking about something carefully and at length before reaching a decision or conclusion.

Pondering in a sentence

• She spent the whole weekend pondering whether to accept the new job.

• After pondering the budget figures, he decided to delay the purchase.

Where does pondering come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The root traces back to the Latin verb ponderare, meaning 'to weigh' or 'to consider carefully', which was built on the noun pondus, meaning 'weight'. The metaphor of weighing one option against another in the mind is exactly how the sense of mental deliberation developed. English took the verb 'ponder' through Old French ponderer during the fourteenth century, and the modern '-ing' form simply adds the regular present participle ending. The same pondus root sits inside everyday words such as 'ponderous' (heavy, slow) and even 'pound', the unit of weight. Knowing that it once meant literally to weigh something helps fix the spelling: a single 'd' and the plain '-ing', with no doubled letters to worry about.

How the word is built

• ponder (from Latin ponderare: to weigh, to consider)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)