Protecting

How to spell protecting

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce protecting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does protecting mean?

1. verbKeeping someone or something safe from harm, loss, or damage.

Protecting in a sentence

• The new firewall is protecting the company network from intruders.

• Wearing gloves while gardening is worth it for protecting your hands.

Where does protecting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb protegere, which meant 'to cover in front' or 'to shield', built from the prefix pro- meaning 'in front' and the verb tegere meaning 'to cover'. The same tegere root, literally the idea of covering something over, also gives us 'tegument' (a protective skin or covering) and lies hidden in 'detect', which originally meant to uncover. English took 'protect' from the Latin past participle protectus in the fifteenth century, and the present participle 'protecting' followed naturally with the standard -ing ending. The spelling is reassuringly regular: the hard 'c' before the 't' keeps the buried 'tect' element visible, so anyone who remembers the cover sense of tegere can hold the letters in place. Because the word is so phonetically faithful, the only real risk is leaving out the second 't' or fumbling the unstressed first syllable.

How the word is built

• pro- (in front, before)
• tect (cover, from Latin tegere 'to cover')
• -ing (present participle suffix)