Raising

How to spell raising

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce raising

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does raising mean?

1. verbThe act of lifting something higher, increasing an amount, or bringing something or someone into being or maturity.

Raising in a sentence

• Raising the flag each morning is part of the school ceremony.

• The council is raising the price of parking permits next month.

Where does raising come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The base verb comes from the Old Norse 'reisa', meaning 'to raise' or 'to cause to stand up', which Norse settlers brought to England and which slowly displaced the older native form. It is the causative twin of the verb 'rise' (from Old English 'risan'): where you rise yourself, you raise something else. By around 1200 'raise' was well established in English meaning to lift, build up, or bring into being, and over the centuries it spread into senses such as raising money, raising children, and raising a question. The '-ing' form here can act as a present participle or as a verbal noun. A useful spelling note is that 'raising' keeps the 'i' of 'raise' and must not be confused with 'razing' (from 'raze', to demolish, from Latin 'radere', to scrape), even though the two sound identical.

How the word is built

• raise (to lift, cause to rise)
• -ing (present participle / verbal-noun suffix)