Seeking

How to spell seeking

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce seeking

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does seeking mean?

1. verbAttempting to find, obtain, or achieve something.

Seeking in a sentence

• The company is seeking a new finance director.

• Many graduates are seeking work overseas.

Where does seeking come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'seek', which descends directly from the Old English secan, meaning 'to look for, to try to find, or to visit'. That verb belonged to the native Germanic stock of English and has close cousins across the family, including the Dutch zoeken and the German suchen, all carrying the same idea of going after something. The spelling settled on a long double 'e' to mark the vowel that in older English was written with other letters, and the modern form has been stable for centuries. The same ancient root also lies behind the related word 'beseech', which originally meant to seek something earnestly from another person. Because the base verb is so short and familiar, the only real spelling concern is remembering the doubled 'e' before the simple '-ing' ending.

How the word is built

• seek (Old English secan: to look for)
• -ing (present participle suffix)