Returning

How to spell returning

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce returning

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does returning mean?

1. verbComing or going back to an earlier place, condition, or activity; or giving or sending something back.
2. adjectiveComing back again, especially a person or thing that has been present before.

Returning in a sentence

• verb

  She spent the whole flight home returning emails from the conference.

• adjective

  The shop offers a discount to every returning customer.

• verb

  Returning the library books on time saves you a late fee.

• adjective

  A returning champion always draws a larger crowd.

Where does returning come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle of the verb 'return', which English assembled from the prefix re-, meaning 'back' or 'again', and the verb 'turn'. The 'turn' element traces to the Old French torner and ultimately the Latin tornare, meaning 'to turn on a lathe', from tornus, a turner's wheel or lathe. The combined Old French retorner literally meant 'to turn back', and English adopted it in the 1300s for the idea of coming back to a place or sending something back. The -ing ending is the ordinary native English suffix that turns a verb into its ongoing or noun form, so 'returning' simply describes the act or state of coming or giving back. The spelling trap sits in the single t and single r of -turning, since the prefix re- adds no extra letters of its own.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• turn (from Old French torner: to turn)
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix)