Sourcing

How to spell sourcing

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sourcing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sourcing mean?

1. nounThe activity of finding and obtaining goods, materials, or suppliers, especially for a business.
2. verbThe act of locating, obtaining, or tracing the origin of something.

Sourcing in a sentence

• noun

  The company moved its sourcing of raw materials to local farms.

• verb

  The journalist spent weeks sourcing reliable documents for the report.

• noun

  Ethical sourcing ensures that every factory in the chain pays fair wages.

• verb

  The chef is sourcing fresh fish directly from the harbour each morning.

Where does sourcing come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows out of the noun and verb 'source', which English took from Old French in the 1300s. The Old French word was 'sourse' (also spelled 'sors'), the past participle of 'sourdre', meaning 'to rise' or 'to spring up', as water rises from a spring. That French verb came in turn from the Latin 'surgere', 'to rise', the same root that gives us 'surge' and 'resurgent'. A 'source' was therefore first the place where a stream wells up, and only later the more general 'point of origin'. The modern business sense, with 'sourcing' as the act of finding and securing supplies or suppliers, is a twentieth-century development, but the spelling still hides the same 'ou' from the old French spring; remembering 'source' itself, then simply adding -ing, keeps the silent flow of letters in order.

How the word is built

• source (origin, supply)
• -ing (verb/noun ending)