Subscribing

How to spell subscribing

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce subscribing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does subscribing mean?

1. verbArranging to receive a publication or service regularly, usually by paying, or formally agreeing to or supporting something.

Subscribing in a sentence

• By subscribing to the newsletter you get a weekly market summary.

• She saved money by subscribing to the annual plan rather than the monthly one.

Where does subscribing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin subscribere, which literally meant 'to write underneath', formed from sub 'under' and scribere 'to write'. In Roman use it described the act of signing one's name at the foot of a document, and from there it grew the sense of formally agreeing to or supporting something by adding your signature. English took it up in the 1400s, first in the legal sense of signing below a text, then broadening to mean pledging money, agreeing to a view, and eventually paying regularly to receive a publication or service. The same scribere root sits inside a whole family of relatives such as describe, prescribe, manuscript, and scripture, all sharing the idea of writing. Knowing that the middle is the writing root 'scrib' helps fix the spelling, since the silent placement and the b before the suffix follow directly from scribere.

How the word is built

• sub- (under)
• scrib (write)
• -ing (present participle)