Relating

How to spell relating

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce relating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does relating mean?

1. verbHaving a connection with, or concerning, a particular subject or thing.
2. verbTelling or recounting a story, event, or sequence of facts to someone.
3. verbFeeling sympathy with or understanding for another person's experience.

Relating in a sentence

• The file contains every document relating to the merger.

• He spent the evening relating the details of his long journey home.

• Many readers had trouble relating to such a privileged character.

• She answered all the questions relating to the budget.

• While relating the incident to the police, she stayed remarkably calm.

• She had no difficulty relating to the struggles of new parents.

Where does relating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'relate', which English took from the Latin relatus, the past participle of referre, meaning 'to carry back' or 'to bring back'. That verb combined re- ('back') with ferre ('to carry'), and the supine stem latus supplied the unusual 'lat' spelling rather than 'fer'. The same Latin root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'refer', 'relation', and 'translate'. English absorbed 'relate' in the sixteenth century, first in the sense of telling or recounting something (literally carrying a story back to a listener), and only later developed the modern senses of connecting things and of feeling a personal connection. The spelling keeps a single 'l' and a single 't', which catches writers who expect a doubled consonant before '-ing'.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• lat (carried, from Latin latus, past participle of ferre 'to carry')
• -ing (present participle suffix)