Practicing

How to spell practicing

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce practicing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does practicing mean?

1. verbRepeatedly performing an activity to improve a skill, or actively working in a profession.

Practicing in a sentence

• She spent the whole weekend practicing her presentation for Monday.

• He has been practicing medicine in the same town for thirty years.

Where does practicing come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The root traces back to the Greek praktikos, meaning 'fit for doing' or 'concerned with action', which itself grew from prassein, the verb 'to do' or 'to act'. This passed into Medieval Latin as practicare, 'to perform' or 'to carry out', and then into Old French as practiser, meaning to work at something repeatedly. English adopted the word in the late 1400s, originally in the sense of putting knowledge into action or pursuing a profession, which is why a doctor or lawyer still has a 'practice'. In American spelling the noun and the verb settled on the single form 'practice', so the present participle is written 'practicing' with a single c; British and Canadian writers keep a separate verb 'practise' and therefore write 'practising'. The soft c before the i gives the /s/ sound, which is the small spelling clue worth holding onto.

How the word is built

• practic- (from Greek praktikos: fit for action, practical)
• -ing (present participle suffix)

British and American spelling

Practicing is the American spelling. British English spells it practising.