Storing

How to spell storing

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce storing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does storing mean?

1. verbPutting something away to keep it safe or available for later use.

Storing in a sentence

• The garage is mainly for storing tools and garden equipment.

• Storing data securely is now a legal requirement for the company.

Where does storing come from?

Language of origin: French

The verb 'store' arrived in English in the 1200s from the Old French verb 'estorer', which meant 'to build, furnish, or stock up'. That French word descended from the Latin 'instaurare', meaning 'to renew, restore, or set up afresh', built on the root 'staurare', linked to ideas of establishing and erecting. Originally to 'store' something carried the sense of supplying or provisioning a place, and only later narrowed to the modern idea of keeping goods safely in reserve for future use. The present participle 'storing' simply adds the '-ing' ending; because the base word ends in a silent 'e', that 'e' is dropped before the suffix, which is the small spelling point worth remembering. The same Latin 'instaurare' also gave English the more formal word 'restore', a useful relative that helps fix the 'stor' spelling in mind.

How the word is built

• stor- (from store, to keep in reserve)
• -ing (present participle suffix)