Voting

How to spell voting

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce voting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does voting mean?

1. nounThe act or process of formally expressing a choice in an election or decision.
2. adjectiveHaving the right to cast a vote, as in a member or shareholder.

Voting in a sentence

• noun

  Voting in the local election closed at ten in the evening.

• adjective

  Every voting member received a copy of the agenda in advance.

• noun

  The committee settled the matter by voting rather than by debate.

• adjective

  The new shares carried no voting rights at the annual meeting.

Where does voting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows out of the verb 'vote', which English took from the Latin votum, meaning 'a vow' or 'a solemn promise made to a god'. That noun came from vovere, 'to vow or pledge', so the earliest sense was religious rather than political: a votum was something you dedicated or promised. By the time the word settled into English in the 1400s and 1500s, the idea had shifted from a sacred pledge to an expressed wish or choice, and then specifically to the choice a person registers in an election. The same Latin root still shows up in the religious word 'votive', as in a votive candle lit to fulfil a vow. The '-ing' ending simply turns the verb into the ongoing action or process of casting votes, and the single 't' (rather than a doubled one) reflects the long vowel in 'vote'.

How the word is built

• vot- (from Latin votum: a vow or solemn wish)
• -ing (suffix forming a verbal noun or present participle)