Scaffolding

How to spell scaffolding

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce scaffolding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does scaffolding mean?

1. nounA temporary framework of poles and platforms erected around a building so workers can reach high parts.
2. nounStructured support a teacher gives a learner, gradually removed as the learner becomes more capable.

Scaffolding in a sentence

• The builders erected scaffolding along the entire front of the house.

• The tutor provided scaffolding by breaking each problem into smaller steps.

• Council inspectors checked that the scaffolding was safely bolted before work began.

• Good scaffolding lets students attempt tasks they could not yet manage alone.

Where does scaffolding come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows out of 'scaffold', which English took from Old French 'eschafaut' (also spelled 'escadafaut'), a name for a raised wooden stage or platform. The French form is generally traced back to a Vulgar Latin word 'catafalicum', combining the Greek prefix 'kata' (down, or here a general intensive) with the Latin 'fala', meaning a wooden tower or siege framework. The same ancestor gave us 'catafalque', the raised stand on which a coffin rests, which shows how the idea of a temporary built-up structure runs through the whole family. English adopted 'scaffold' in the 1300s, at first for any elevated platform, including the grim stage used for public executions, and added the noun ending '-ing' to name the collective network of poles and boards. The doubled 'ff' is the main spelling trap, a survival of the older French spelling rather than anything you can hear when the word is spoken.

How the word is built

• scaffold (raised working platform)
• -ing (noun-forming suffix)