Pursuing

How to spell pursuing

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce pursuing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pursuing mean?

1. verbActively following, chasing, or working towards something or someone.

Pursuing in a sentence

• She is pursuing a degree in civil engineering while working full time.

• The company is pursuing new customers in overseas markets.

Where does pursuing come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle of the verb 'pursue', which English took from the Old French 'poursuivre', meaning 'to follow after' or 'to chase'. That French verb grew out of the Latin 'prosequi', built from 'pro-', meaning 'forward', and 'sequi', meaning 'to follow', so the literal sense was 'to follow forth'. English adopted it during the 1300s, at first for the very physical idea of chasing an enemy or hunting an animal, and only later for the broader senses of seeking a goal or carrying on an activity. The same 'sequi' root quietly powers a crowd of relatives such as 'sequence', 'consequence', 'prosecute', and 'sue'. The spelling trap lives in the middle: writers expect 'per-' as in 'person', but it is 'pur-', and the unusual '-suing' cluster has no doubled letters to lean on.

How the word is built

• pur- (forth, from Latin pro-)
• -sue (to follow, from Latin sequi)
• -ing (present participle suffix)