Respecting

How to spell respecting

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce respecting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does respecting mean?

1. verbShowing esteem, deference, or proper regard for someone or something.
2. prepositionWith regard to; concerning; on the subject of.

Respecting in a sentence

• verb

  Respecting a colleague's privacy means not reading messages left open on their screen.

• preposition

  The committee issued fresh guidance respecting the payment of overtime.

• verb

  She signed the agreement while still respecting her partner's wish to stay anonymous.

• preposition

  Any queries respecting the lease should be sent to the property manager.

Where does respecting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows out of the Latin verb respicere, which literally meant 'to look back at' or 'to look round at', built from re- 'back' and specere 'to look'. From the simple act of looking back came the idea of giving something a second, considering glance, and so the past participle respectus carried the sense of 'regard' or 'consideration'. English took 'respect' in through Old French and Latin in the late Middle Ages, and the -ing form developed in two directions: as the ordinary participle of the verb (treating someone with esteem) and, by the sixteenth century, as a preposition meaning 'concerning' or 'with regard to'. The same spect root for looking turns up in a crowd of familiar relatives such as 'spectator', 'inspect', and 'spectacle', which is a handy reminder that the middle of the word is spect, not 'spec'. Because the spelling is so regular, the only real care needed is keeping the single c and the t together.

How the word is built

• re- (back, intensifying)
• spect (look, from Latin spectare)
• -ing (present participle / preposition-forming suffix)